this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
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I wish I could find another source to confirm this, but if true, that's basically the nuclear option to kick out all American companies and halt all mineral exports to the US.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 81 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Sweeping tariffs combined with cutting off aid, curtailing imports from across the world will make America extremely weak.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 74 points 5 days ago (3 children)

trump doesn't understand this. The USA gets away with a lot of shit because it does a lot of other good. If we remove the good, we lose the tolerance for our shit.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm worried that his response will be military coercion...

[–] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 14 points 5 days ago

Oh, it absolutely will be. Our drunken defense secretary said that soft power is weakness.

Might makes right. Get ready for WWIII.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Just like Felon...stop making electric cars or launching useful satellites and he's gonna get the reprisal of the public.... Much more than now. I assume.

[–] higgsboson@dubvee.org 21 points 5 days ago

Almost as if that's the whole point.

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think this guy is very likely going to invade an Ally once he's consolidated his coup.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Wonder who it would be.

glances nervously at the 51st state to the North

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Canadians will go scorched earth before accepting occupation though. I can see the US union breaking apart sooner than Americans occupying and holding Ottawa

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I hope so, but I saw a few province leaders in the news salivating at the chance to lick boots and chew leather when the tariffs were announced. Good luck to all of you stuck with those shitheels in charge.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Yeah... I really don't know what's going on there but its confined to mostly Alberta and Saskatchewan luckily. Our Conservative premier in Ontario is a (former? maybe?) Trump supporter but at least he's been very against it, even if it is just for the provincial election.

Our next federal election is where the future of our country is really going to be revealed though

[–] Renohren@lemmy.today 1 points 4 days ago

Puerto-Rico is not north plus they voted in a referendum the US asked them to do to be part of the....

Oh, OK then, they'll abstain from the sun so they'll be whiter...

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago

Lower supply of key goods should help with inflation, right? Ugh

[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Good news if true. Setting and defending personal boundaries is essential in any relationship and especially dealing with a narcissist. It's not that different at the international scale.

[–] Podunk@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

China has been buying and stealing south africa piece by piece for decades. land, mines, politicians. Everything. This will have very negative consequences for all of sa.

They are not defending their boundaries. This is just going to feed the other beast. This just cuts off americas influence on SA, and lets china go full hog into it. This was just they were waiting for.

[–] golden_calf@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Most of what Trump/Musk has been doing will directly benefit China. He says they are an enemy and adds tariffs but mostly China is the winner in all of this and will be long term.

[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 31 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I'd be pretty skeptical of this. As you said, no one else is reporting what would be huge news. I can't find the quote attributed to "a spokesperson for the South African government" anywhere else either. There isn't a named person in the article. This source seems sketchy, though I can't find any bias monitor info on them. That 'from the desk of the president' graphic is also just kinda weird.

The closest to this story I can find is this Feb 3rd story from a mining conference:

South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, told delegates in his opening address that Africa should withhold minerals if funding is withdrawn.

[–] Skiluros@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

‘from the desk of the president’ graphic

That graphic is indeed very strange and a massive red flag.

This is almost certainly some sort of clickbait farm.

[–] tunetardis@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Yeah I agree. I came across the article as I like to read up on what's going on with BRICS countries as that seems like something worth keeping an eye on. But the lack of confirmation is troublesome. Even something like a giant trade deal with China that would give them some standing to call Trump's bluff would lend some credibility. It could be that this was threatened during negotiations and someone jumped the gun to say it's now policy? If I see any more about it one way or another, I will update the post.

[–] nixfreak@sopuli.xyz -4 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

https://lemmy.nz/post/19315821/13640880 I have no idea how to do a relative URL maybe: like this?

They posted above/below.

Edit: they appear to be crap.

[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago

They are indeed crap. The Reuters link isn't even about this.

From SA's perspective, this would be get in front of cameras and pound your chest news, not get an unnamed spokesperson to whisper about it to some unknown reporter news. Like, why would you want to dramatically punch back... but keep it low key? Makes no sense.

[–] Jack@lemmy.ca 18 points 5 days ago

I haven't seen any reliable sources say this yet.

An article from February 3 https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/minerals/?hilite=minerals by the country's public broadcaster, quotes the Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, saying South Africa's minerals should be withheld from US, but I've seen no reports that it actually will be.

I also couldn't find anything at the government's website https://www.gov.za/, nor via DDG at Reuters or AP.

[–] Wigners_friend@lemm.ee 15 points 5 days ago

No local news sources reporting this in SA ..

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I wonder where American military will start aggressively supporting American interests next?

Inside the US. President Musk and the Cuck-in-Chief plan to cut the Pentagon budget in half. I mean, the defense contractors will still get plenty of cash but there won't be enough trained volunteer soldiers.

[–] nixfreak@sopuli.xyz -2 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] nixfreak@sopuli.xyz -1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Wow, yeah it’s true, found more sources that confirm too.

[–] AlchemicalAgent@mander.xyz 4 points 5 days ago

It looks like that first link just references the original article. Seems to be an AI generated summary, too.

[–] RangerJosey@lemmy.ml -1 points 5 days ago