Leland Lazarus
This chapter explores China&s;s expanding role in Latin America and the Caribbean&s;s critical minerals sector, arguing that Beijing&s;s pursuit of lithium, copper, niobium, and other strategic resources is driven as much by national security and industrial policy as by market demand. Anchored in the Lithium Triangle of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, as well as other resource rich countries like Brazil and Peru, Chinese firms – backed by state financing and policy support – have secured major upstream mining stakes while consolidating dominance in downstream refining and battery production. Using realism, complex interdependence, and dependency theory, the chapter shows how mineral supply chains have become instruments of geopolitical leverage. China frames “resource security” as essential to technological leadership and military readiness, while the United States and its allies increasingly emphasize “de-risking” critical mineral supply chains. Yet Latin American governments are leveraging resource nationalism, state equity, industrial policy, and regional coordination – including proposals for a lithium alliance – to capture greater value and avoid neo-extractive dependency. Environmental backlash, Indigenous resistance, and demands for ESG standards further complicate the landscape. Ultimately, the chapter argues that critical minerals sit at the center of a new resource geopolitics – one that will shape technological leadership, energy transitions, and sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere.