Gracelin Baskaran

Director, Critical Minerals Security Program
5Baskaran

Dr. Gracelin Baskaran is director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is a mining economist and has spent over a decade working on critical minerals globally. She began her career in South Africa’s platinum belt and later spent five years at the World Bank in South Africa, where she coauthored the book Africa’s Resource Future: Harnessing Natural Resources for Economic Transformation during the Low-Carbon Transition. She recently published a policy playbook, Critical Minerals and the Future of the United States Economy, and is now writing a book on an international strategy for critical minerals engagement for the United States. Dr. Baskaran is also an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches on critical minerals in the Center for Security Studies. She was a Fulbright Scholar and has held positions at the University of Cambridge, University of London, and University of Cape Town. Dr. Baskaran has been cited as an expert in The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fox, CNN, Bloomberg, and BBC, and regularly appears on television. She has authored over 200 policy reports, white papers, and op-eds, and has published research in the Mineral Economics journal. She is a regular speaker at leading international mining and energy conferences, universities, and policymaker forums, and she has testified before Congress. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Programs & Projects

Areas of Expertise

Gracelin Baskaran's Reports

Photo: Keystone View Company/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Photo: Keystone View Company/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Minerals at War: Strategic Resources and the Foundations of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

Across conflicts, the United States used stockpiles, price controls, public financing, and foreign procurement to manage mineral supply shocks—only to dismantle them in peacetime. History shows mineral security demands sustained industrial policy, not episodic investment.

Report by Gracelin Baskaran and Samantha Dady — January 14, 2026

Gracelin Baskaran's Analysis

Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

New Executive Order Ties U.S. Critical Minerals Security to Global Partnerships

A new executive order makes international cooperation central to U.S. critical minerals security, targeting processed minerals where China dominates. It pairs allied supply agreements with trade tools—and potential price supports—to reduce vulnerabilities.

Critical Questions by Gracelin Baskaran — January 15, 2026

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Executive Education

Driving Critical Minerals Security

Investigate the risks facing U.S. critical minerals security in this one-day course.

Course Date: January 27, 2026
Registration Closes: January 19, 2026

China’s Rare Earth Campaign Against Japan

China’s imposition of new rare earth export restrictions on Japan, following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan, represents an escalation in China–Japan tensions and highlights Beijing’s increasing reliance on mineral export controls as a deterrence tool.

Critical Questions by Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz — January 13, 2026

Greenland, Rare Earths, and Arctic Security

Greenland holds globally significant rare earth resources, but harsh conditions and weak infrastructure have stalled mining. U.S. interests are best advanced not through coercion, but coordinated investment with European allies to counter China’s influence.

Report by Meredith Schwartz and Gracelin Baskaran — January 8, 2026

Audio Briefs

Is Venezuela a Critical Minerals Target?

An audio version of “⁠Is Venezuela a Critical Minerals Target?⁠,” a new Critical Questions by CSIS’s Gracelin Baskaran. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by Gracelin Baskaran — January 6, 2026

Audio Briefs

Is Venezuela a Critical Minerals Target?

Venezuela sits on sizable gold resources—but geology alone doesn’t make a minerals power. With nationalization, informal mining, and deep governance risks, do minerals factor into U.S. strategy at all, or remain largely irrelevant?

Critical Questions by Gracelin Baskaran — January 5, 2026

Stabilizing Cobalt Markets: A Price Floor for U.S. Minerals Security

U.S. cobalt security is threatened by severe price volatility driven by PRC oversupply, which has pushed Western mines—including the only U.S. cobalt mine—offline. The United States should use a price floor for strategic projects needed for national and economic security.

Brief by Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz — December 10, 2025