
The US-Indonesia Trade Deal and Critical Minerals: Opportunities, Key Questions and Known Unknowns
A new trade deal with Indonesia could exempt the US from the country's current export ban on critical minerals. It could redirect meaningful volumes of material—but will only matter if the US is able to build the capacity to transform the raw ore.

WATCH China | Competition | Power Episode One: China’s Hybrid Economic Model
The world is finally waking up to the reality that the Chinese Communist Party has created a unique economic system that prioritizes power over profit, and that for the past decades, the West has fallen behind because Beijing has been playing by its own rules. Watch this panel of experts discuss how this state of play evolved, what’s at stake, and where we can go from here.

A Pony with Multiple Tricks: Why Transmission is America’s Energy Security Secret Advantage
America is amidst an energy revolution, and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to control our destiny and realize an energy independent economy. One piece of overlooked infrastructure holds the key: high-voltage electric transmission.

Watch: Untangling the U.S. Government’s Many Critical Minerals and Materials Lists
Watch the SAFE Center for Critical Minerals Strategy's recent webinar which convened experts from the Department of the Interior, Energy, and Defense for a webinar examining the U.S. government’s many critical minerals and materials lists to get clarity about how various departments determine what gets included on these lists and how the different methodologies may change in the future.

One Year Later, The IRA Is Working
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, was the most significant signal of support for the transition to electric vehicles by the federal government. It serves as a critical part of the effort to achieve the Biden Administration’s goal that 50 percent of all new vehicles sold in 2030 are electric—an essential step toward reducing the United States’ dependence on oil.

Deep-Sea Mining: State of Play
Lying on the abyssal plains of oceans at depths of 3,500-6,000 meters, polymetallic nodules contain essential minerals used in the electric vehicle batteries fueling the energy transition. Enriched in manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt, nodule fields of interest have been identified in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), Penrhyn Basin, and Peru Basin of the Pacific Ocean as well as in the north Indian Ocean. Reserves of certain critical minerals found in the CCZ alone have been estimated to surpass global terrestrial reserves.
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