If US companies want to extract these resources they need to trust that their cobalt mine won't get nationalized or taxed too much or saddled with "unreasonable" safety regulations.

But why should the government or people in a poor nation play along? Is it not moral to nationalize the mine if millions of your people are sick or suffering from simple basic things that aren't even that expensive to fix?

USAID means that having good relations with America has benefits.

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