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It was another Trump initiative last year, though, which has arguably had a much greater impact on Myanmar: the dismantling of USAID, which slashed aid to opposition groups, dissident media and refugees by more than half.
There was also the decision, decried by human rights groups, to withdraw Temporary Protected Status from 4,000 Burmese who had sought sanctuary in the US. This has left them living in fear of being sent back, where many face being jailed, or worse.
As for the rare earths in Myanmar, few experts believe they will ever be of much use to the US. Most lie in areas contested by ethnic insurgent armies.
They are currently extracted by Chinese companies with long experience of operating in these lawless borderlands, and transported over the border to China for processing. It is difficult to see how the US could get access to them.
It is also doubtful that the US will get meaningful co-operation from the Myanmar government in combating the scam industry.
There have been a few highly-publicised actions against some of the larger scam compounds, but the syndicates running them have simply dispersed to smaller operations in more remote areas, and in any case most are run with the support of militia groups allied to the Myanmar military.
“Talking to Nay Pyi Taw is not wrong in itself,” says Horsey.
“The question is what Washington asks for and what it gives away. It should use the channel for the things that matter most: humanitarian access, an end to airstrikes on civilians. It should keep talking to the opposition and the ethnic armed groups, who hold much of the country. And on scams, the most effective thing the US can do is to co-ordinate with other governments in the region, including China, to go after the money.”
Perhaps the bigger question, though, is whether President Trump, distracted by domestic politics and the war on Iran, has the capacity to give any sustained attention to Myanmar, let alone enough to challenge the dominant influence of China.
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