Chris Berry, president of House Mountain Partners, explains the supply-demand imbalance around lithium, and other metals. He uses the basketball jump ball rule analogy to explain the competitive nature of the demand for metals. As the burgeoning electric vehicle market and an international pivot toward clean energy push demand for cheap and efficient batteries through the roof, companies are struggling to get their hands on lithium. “How did we get here with respect to the supply-demand challenges. It really comes down to, in my view, the trade war between Trump and China, or just let’s say the United States and China, and Covid obviously laid bare the challenges of PPE and semiconductors, and of course critical materials,” says Berry. He argues that while China controls the majority of the lithium supply chain, there is now a move to try to reshape and restore these supply chains around critical materials. Berry is optimistic about private sectors and governments alleviating the supply chain problems but is convinced there are important challenges ahead. In this interview, Berry also discusses how Tesla and the Chinese government have become major drivers of this now-critical industry. Interviewed by Maggie Lake on November 2, 2021.