Columbia Energy Exchange22 Jul 2025

A Critical Moment for Latin America's Mineral Supply Chain

Countries around the world, including the US, are rushing to secure critical mineral supply chains. As these essential resources, which are key to building clean energy infrastructure, become a major focus in policy and trade discussions, Latin America sits at the center of the competition. It is home to vast lithium reserves in the Lithium Triangle and it holds nearly 40% of the world's copper deposits.

But recent price volatility and geopolitical concerns have created new challenges. Early this month, President Trump announced a 50% tariff on copper imports, further jolting markets as copper prices jumped over 13% in a single day.

So how are countries in the region navigating these new trade and market realities? Can Latin America build mineral supply chains that are more resilient to geopolitical shocks? And how are these governments responding to the environmental and economic concerns of Indigenous and local communities?

This week, Jason speaks with Juan Carlos Jobet, Tom Moerenhout, and Diego Rivera Rivota about Latin America's critical mineral supply chain.

Juan Carlos is the dean of the School of Business and Economics at Adolfo Ibáñez University and Chile's former Minister of Energy and Mining and a former distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.

Tom leads the Critical Materials Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Diego is a senior research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy.

Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

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