Coins have both sides: Revealing the structure and pattern of global interdependence network for five critical metals

Qifan Xia, Debin Du, Zihao Yu, Xiya Li, Qiang Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Evaluating the trade interdependence among countries is the key to understanding critical metal minerals security. By constructing a novel interdependence network, this paper reveals a more comprehensive world hierarchy and risk system of critical metals, and focuses on the interdependencies between China and the US-led MSP countries before and after the Sino-US trade disputes. The results indicate that the global interdependence network of critical metals has declined, with antimony interdependence being the loosest. China and the U.S. are gradually separating into different communities and driving the camp-based world pattern. In addition, the world is increasingly less dependent on China, but China is increasingly dependent on the world. China only remains the world's most indispensable in both lithium and tungsten alone, but it is the most world-dependent country in all four critical metal interdependence networks except tungsten. Meanwhile, China and Western countries such as the U.S. are at high risk of dependence on critical metal chains, while most of the others are gradually getting better. Interestingly, MSP countries and China maintain strong interdependencies. MSP countries' dependencies on China have significantly decreased, While China's dependence on MSP has gradually deepened.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104453
JournalResources Policy
Volume88
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 Jan

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This paper was funded by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities ( YBNLTS2023-001 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Economics

Free keywords

  • Complex network
  • Critical metals
  • Geopolitics
  • Interdependence
  • MSP

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