Reality Now Dawning Western Countries Probably Can’t Catch-Up With China in the Critical Minerals Race

Percentage share of global production. Note: Report published in July 2022. Source: International Energy Agency

There’s been a noticeable shift in recent weeks in the European and North American discourse about China’s dominance of critical resources used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries.

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic are no longer boasting about rivaling China’s mining and refining capacities of minerals and metals like graphic, cobalt, nickel and lithium. Instead, a much more sober discussion is now getting underway that presents two equally uncomfortable options:

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by Eric Olander

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