What role did rubber play in the Vietnam War?

by shlarkboy

Was rubber production a cause of American intervention in Indochina?

kdelamont

In short: no. The USA had invented and improved synthetic rubbers by the time they got involved in earnest in Vietnam, and there's really no reason why they would have needed the rubber trees.

The claim that France needed rubber, which in a roundabout way caused the US intervention in Vietnbam could be explored, but even then, the amount of rubber exported wasn't enough to lead to the conflict.