IntelBrief: Playing Catch Up: The West Tries to Stake Its Claim Over Access to Critical Minerals

Bottom Line Up Front

• The United States is racing to catch up with Chinese dominance of the minerals that will fuel the green economy.
• The market for lithium, cobalt, copper, and other critical minerals is exploding as demand grows for electric vehicles (EVs), as well as for other consumer and military goods whose production requires them.
• A recent discovery of massive lithium reserves could give the United States major leverage over one of the most important and widely used minerals in EV battery production.
• While superpowers continue to attempt to lay their claims to mineral reserves around the world, some resource-rich countries are employing protectionist measures to try to insert themselves further into the supply chains.