Critical minerals, trade rules and industrial strategies: who benefits?

Growing demand for ‘critical minerals’ and geopolitical rivalries between large economies are fuelling a scramble to secure control of supply chains.

To harness their mineral wealth for local development, many mineral-rich low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are adopting strategies aimed at promoting industrialisation and economic diversification.

Some of these goals align with international guidance and initiatives on promoting just energy transitions. But international treaties on trade and investment constrain policy options for industrial strategies in mineral-rich LMICs.

This briefing paper unpacks these issues and highlights the need to realign international economic rules with just transition principles.