From smartphones and electric vehicles to advanced weapons systems, semiconductors, and renewable energy technologies, critical minerals are essential to the modern economy and to national security. Yet the global supply chains that deliver these resources are highly concentrated, creating strategic vulnerabilities and intensifying competition among the world’s leading powers.
Join Dr. Gracelin Baskaran, Director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), to explore the geopolitics of critical minerals and the increasingly competitive race to secure them. China has established significant influence over the mining, processing, and refining of many critical resources, giving it considerable leverage over industries and supply chains worldwide. Meanwhile, the United States is working to diversify its sources, strengthen domestic production, and build strategic partnerships with resource-rich countries and international allies.
Dr. Baskaran will examine how competition for critical minerals is reshaping relationships between countries, influencing trade and investment, and creating new opportunities and tensions across the international community. What tools does the United States have to compete? How can countries balance economic opportunity with national security and environmental considerations? And what will it take to build more resilient and diversified global supply chains?
Join us for a conversation about the resources shaping the future of global power and the geopolitical relationships being forged in the race to secure them.
About the Speaker
Dr. Gracelin Baskaran is director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She is a mining economist and has spent over a decade working on critical minerals globally. She began her career in South Africa’s platinum belt and later spent five years at the World Bank in South Africa, where she coauthored the book Africa’s Resource Future: Harnessing Natural Resources for Economic Transformation during the Low-Carbon Transition. She recently published a policy playbook, Critical Minerals and the Future of the United States Economy, and is now writing a book on an international strategy for critical minerals engagement for the United States.
Dr. Baskaran is also an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches critical minerals in the Center for Security Studies. She was a Fulbright Scholar and has held positions at the University of Cambridge, the University of London, and the University of Cape Town. Dr. Baskaran has been cited as an expert in The Economist, Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Fox, CNN, Bloomberg, and BBC, and regularly appears on television. She has authored more than 200 policy reports, white papers, and op-eds. In 2025, Mining Journal ranked Dr. Baskaran No. 8 on its “Top 50 Most Influential” list—the only woman in the top 12. She regularly speaks at international conferences and policymaker forums and has testified before the U.S. Congress. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Event Details
- This program will be held virtually on Zoom.
- A confirmation email with the access link will be sent following registration (please check your spam folder if you don’t see the email in your inbox).
- The event will take place at 9 am Alaska Standard Time / 1pm Eastern Standard Time.
- Tickets are donation-based.
- Online registration closes at 8:00 PM AKST on December 8.