Cuban cobalt: A gateway to strategic minerals politics?

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.14.2.0343
• Pages: 343-358
• Published date: 20 January 2023
• Date: 20 January 2023
• Author: H. Michael Erisman
• Subject Matter: Sanctions,cobalt price trends,strategic minerals list,linkage negotiating strategy,lithium-ion batteries,bargaining power

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ACADEMIC ARTICLE

CUBAN COBALT: A GATEWAY TO

STRATEGIC MINERALS POLITICS?

H. Michael Erisman1

Indiana State University

Abstract

This article explores Cuba’s status within the context of strategic minerals politics,

focusing specifically on cobalt. Cuba has the third largest cobalt reserves in the world,

which is a crucial element in lithium-ion batteries (especially those used in electric

cars). The US, on the other hand, is sorely lacking in cobalt, which is on Washington’s

list of Strategic Raw Minerals and is ranked third in terms of its “supply chain

risk”. The key issues/questions addressed in the article are: “Cobalt as a Strategic

Raw Material”; an “Overview of Cuban Cobalt”; and “Cuban Cobalt: Economic and

Political Implications”. The article concludes with an analysis of cobalt’s potential

to enhance Havana’s bargaining power with respect to any negotiations with

Washington which might occur regarding US economic sanctions in particular and

normalization of relations in general.

1 H. Michael Erisman is professor emeritus of Political Science at Indiana State

University in Terre Haute, Indiana. His main fields of interest are US policies toward

Latin America, political economy in the Caribbean Basin and Cuban foreign affairs.

Relative specifically to Cuba besides numerous articles and book chapters, the most

recent of the nine books that he has authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited

is Cuban Foreign Policy: Transformation under Raúl Castro (2018). His current

research agenda involves projects dealing with Cuban/US relations in the area of

pharmaceutical collaboration and Cuban medical tourism. He has visited Cuba over

20 times to conduct research, to present papers at conferences and special seminars,

and to participate in academic exchanges with Cuban colleagues from the University

of Havana and various research centres (e.g. Centro de Estudios Hemisféricos y sobre

Estados Unidos and Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales).

DOI:10.13169/intejcubastud.14.2.0343

344 ACADEMIC ARTICLE – H. MICHAEL ERISMAN

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 14.2 WInter 2022

Key words: Sanctions, cobalt price trends, strategic minerals list, linkage negotiating

strategy, lithium-ion batteries, bargaining power

Introduction

International relations (IR) is an extremely multidimensional topic, with some

elements having a high profile (both public and governmental) while other

aspects, crucial as they might be, play out far from the mainstream currents of

attention. One important sphere of activity falling into this latter category is

“strategic minerals/raw materials politics”. Most people, with the exception of a

few IR specialists, do not have any great or even passing familiarity with this

branch of foreign policy, but those who do understand that its implications can

be crucial to the domestic as well as the foreign affairs of a country.

The US government defines strategic minerals as (Hui 2021):

a mineral identified by the Secretary of the Interior to be

(i) a non-fuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic and national

security of the United States;

(ii) the supply chain of which is vulnerable to disruption; and

(iii) that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the

absence of which would have significant consequences for our economy or our

national security.

Currently (January 2022) there are 35 items on Washington’s list of strategic

minerals, the US being self-sufficient in only three. Import reliance on the remain-

ing 32 ranges from 17 to 100 percent, with 14 representing commodities where

the US is totally reliant on foreign sources to meet its demands (CRS 2019).

Focusing on Cuba as one of those foreign sources with respect to cobalt, this

article will address the following considerations:

* Cobalt as a strategic raw material

* Cuba’s status and activities as an actor in the international cobalt community

* The economic and political implications of Cuban cobalt

Within these broad parameters, particular attention will be devoted to the poten-

tial impact of the island’s cobalt reserves on its relations with the United States.