The Scramble for Critical Raw Materials: Time to Take Stock?

For over a decade the scramble for so-called Critical Raw Materials has been a flashpoint between nations. Accusations and fears that governments weaponise trade in these industrial materials abound. Given the central role they play in the digital and energy transitions, policies to secure and produce these materials have the potential to upset trade relations for decades to come. Faced with this unwelcome prospect, Johannes Fritz and Simon Evenett devoted the 31st Global Trade Alert report to sort out the fact from fiction in this complex, long-term policy challenge.