Question 11 of the ELAR: Reading Practice Test for the TSIA2

Question 11 ELAR: Reading Practice Test for the TSIA2

According to the attached passage, the U.S. has become more reliant on foreign sources for mineral commodities because ____.

One of the primary reasons the United States has become more reliant on foreign sources for mineral commodities is the large increase in mineral commodities used by the United States, both in type and quantity. For instance, a National Research Council report showed that computers went from using just 12 elements in the 1980s to as many as 60 by 2006. Many of these minerals are not distributed evenly across the globe, and some countries have larger reserves than others. Chile, for instance, has more than twice the copper reserves of the country with the next largest (Australia), and provided the United States with 50 percent of its copper imports in 2016. Another primary reason the United States has become more reliant on foreign sources for mineral commodities is the relative cost of production for the minerals. Policy decisions in the United States and other countries, as well as relative concentrations of mineral resources, affect the comparative cost of mineral production.

Retrieved from: https://www.usgs.gov/news/risk-and-reliance-us-economy-and-mineral-resources

demand is increasing, especially with regard to computers which are using more elements in their production in the twenty-first century than in the twentieth century
China buys more mineral commodities than the U.S. does
the U.S. has very few mineral resources within the country itself and the mining and production of those minerals is not cost-effective
trade deficits with other countries can be made up through mineral trading

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Question 11 - ELAR: Reading Practice Test for the TSIA2