2026 Reports

Collective Bargaining in International Economic Law: Critical Minerals, Regional Integration, and Value Addition

Camarillo, Iza

Contemporary governance of critical minerals increasingly relies on negotiations between resource-rich Global South states and developed economies. Trade agreements, investment treaties, and bilateral partnership frameworks seek to secure mineral supply and govern extraction, processing, and export. Existing debates focus on regulatory standards, environmental safeguards, and industrial policy, while development outcomes and policy space are often shaped by economic or political power asymmetries rather than negotiation design. When negotiations occur bilaterally, producing states negotiate alone with larger economies and face pressure to accept their terms. By contrast, regional integration can function as collective bargaining, enabling governments to preserve regulatory autonomy for domestic industrial development.