China, BRICS, & Allies

Mapping China’s strategy for rare earths dominanceChina has built a commanding monopoly over rare earths, the seventeen metallic elements that are crucial for modern technologies.

Tariffs & Export Control

Ministry of Commerce Notice 2025 No. 61: Announcement of the Decision to Implement Controls on Exports of Rare Earth-Related Items to Foreign Countries | Center for Security and Emerging TechnologyRead our translation of a notice that expands Chinese export controls on rare earths.

China Issues Export Control Measures over Rare Earth Items

EVs & Batteries

How Chinese EV makers are winning in BrazilChina automakers have turned to emerging markets like Brazil to offload their massive supply. Brands including BYD now make up over 80% of EV sales in Brazil.

BRICS, G7

ACriticalMineralsPerspectiveontheEmergenceofGeopoliticalTradingBlocs-RESPOL.pdf

BRICS Expansion and the Future of World Order: Perspectives from Member States, Partners, and AspirantsThe potential of BRICS members and partner countries to fulfill their individual aspirations via BRICS hinges on what vision of the future of world order ultimately wins out within BRICS.

Between global geopolitics and national interests: BRICS cooperation in the mineral sectorSince the onset of the Russian war against Ukraine, the resilience of mineral supply has received political attention in the US and in the EU, particularly due to China’s central position in these ...

Building Better Global Economic BRICs

Latin America and the Caribbean in BRICS+ New Strategic Regionalism and the Geopolitics of Trade and Supply ChainsThis article examines the recent integration of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries into the BRICS+ framework as part of a broader geopolitical shift toward multipolarity. It analyzes BRICS+ through the lens of New Strategic Regionalism, the author’s own theoretical contribution to the study of regional transformations in the Global South, and focuses on trade deflection under sanctions, and the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in BRICS+. The study uses a mixed-methods approach. Qualitative analysis of institutional sources is combined with quantitative trade data for Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. A case study of Venezuela is included, integrating trade microdata—Bill of Lading—to trace emerging supply chains and economic actors, and to examine Venezuela’s exclusion from BRICS+ and its subsequent geopolitical repositioning. Results show that BRICS+ functions as a space of strategic realignment for LAC countries seeking alternatives to Western-dominated trade and financial systems. Cuba and Bolivia were admitted as partners. Although excluded due to Brazil’s objections, Venezuela’s evolving ties with BRICS states reveal informal pathways of integration through South–South cooperation. This article contributes to four key research gaps: LAC in BRICS+; BRICS+ as new strategic regionalism; trade deflection under sanctions; use of trade microdata; and the geopolitics of supply chains. It challenges technocratic approaches by framing these geopolitical dynamics as anchored in contested global power shifts.

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