> You think lithium won't continue to be bought from Australia and Chile for use in Europe?
Globalization does -not- merely mean global trade. Globalization was the equivalent of centralized optimization applied to national economies. Far flung corners of the planet have been doing long distance trade for ages, long before globalization.
Physical movement of goods due to foreign trade is not the same thing as physical movement due to a distributed ("globalized") production chain.
Until Australia tools up to add value, lithium is substantially part of a distributed production chain. We're also the source of the feedstock silicon for some fab lines. Almost all manufactured meat product (bacon and the like) is using imported meat, sometimes as little as 15% Australian content and our meatworks are owned by a Brazilian company importing from Canada to Australia.
We ship iron ore to China, to buy back construction metal forms..
Globalization does -not- merely mean global trade. Globalization was the equivalent of centralized optimization applied to national economies. Far flung corners of the planet have been doing long distance trade for ages, long before globalization.
Physical movement of goods due to foreign trade is not the same thing as physical movement due to a distributed ("globalized") production chain.