As policymakers and business leaders in both the U.S. and China rev up electric-vehicle production, they find themselves reliant on the insecure supply of a raw material critical to both countries’ economies.
A grassy plain in Nevada’s Humboldt County is where the contest between the U.S. and China for mastery of the global economy could be won or lost.
Called Thacker Pass, the empty patch of land, 230 miles from Reno, looks decidedly uninteresting, home to little more than scrubby bushes. But it’s what lies beneath that places the site at the center of the twenty-first century economy: Lithium.
That once-obscure metal, long suffering in the shadow of copper, iron ore and other widely cherished commodities, has now claimed the global spotlight. The challenge of climate change has elevated lithium into the indispensable ingredient for the green energy age. As all the world’s major economies push aggressively to electrify their transportation, lithium — and the batteries made with it — will power that revolution.
But here’s the problem: There won’t be enough lithium to go around, at least in the near term. The U.S., for instance, produces hardly any — less than
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Why is one of Taiwan's largest media groups — Want Want China Times Media Group — spreading anti-U.S. rhetoric? Largely because its billionaire owner, Tsai Eng-meng, is known to sympathize with the Chinese Communist Party and favors unification with the mainland. Now, with Taiwan gearing up for a critical presidential election, Want Want’s efforts are picking up and helping to normalize CCP talking points.
A look at ZPMC: how it came to dominate ports around the world; its role in Chinese foreign policy; and the consequences of its links to the Chinese state.
The author and academic talks about how trade has actually changed over the last 40 years; why China's rise is linked to Asia's regionalization; and why international supply chains are efficient and resilient.
