Rare Earths and Shared Futures: U.S.–Japan Cooperation in a New Mineral Age
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm MDT in the Dell Brown Room and virtually via Microsoft Teams
Join Dr. Kristin Vekasi, the inaugural Mansfield Chair of Japanese and Indo-Pacific Affairs, for a Mansfield Dialogue, "Rare Earths and Shared Futures: U.S.–Japan Cooperation in a New Mineral Age."
In 2010, a maritime clash near the Senkaku Islands led China to halt rare earth exports to Japan—an event that exposed deep vulnerabilities in global supply chains and marked the start of a new mineral age. This talk explores how critical minerals—essential to clean energy and advanced technology—have become flashpoints in trade wars and strategic rivalry, and a core piece of U.S.–Japan cooperation.
Accessibility
The University of Montana is committed to creating inclusive, accessible events. If you would like to request reasonable accommodations for this event, don't hesitate to get in touch with Sarah Ward at sarah.ward@mso.umt.edu or call 406-243-6932. At least 3 business days' advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.
Dr. Kristin Vekasi
Kristin Vekasi, the inaugural Mansfield Chair of Japanese and Indo-Pacific Affairs, comes to UM from the University of Maine, where she focused on trade and investment strategies in changing geopolitical environments and the political risk management of supply chains. She specializes in Northeast Asia and has spent years conducting research in China, Japan, and South Korea. Her current research examines how Japan, China, and the U.S. cooperate and compete to manage complex supply chains, focusing on raw materials and industries essential for the transition to green energy.
Vekasi received her PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before joining the faculty at the University of Maine, she taught at New College of Florida, was a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo, and a Fulbright Fellow at Tohoku University. She is a member of the Mansfield Foundation’s US-Japan Network for the Future and Mansfield-Luce Scholars Network, and a 2019 National Asia Research Program Fellow with the National Bureau of Asian Research, where she is also a nonresident fellow. In 2021-2022, she was an academic associate at Harvard University's US-Japan Program.