Exploring key countries in the tungsten industry chain under the BRI: a spatiotemporal and multilayer trade dependence network perspective

Abstract

Tungsten, as a key mineral resource, suffers from value loss in developing countries due to technological defects. It is necessary to strengthen regional cooperation to prevent this phenomenon. The Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) provides a platform to promote tungsten resources cooperation, thereby generating trade dependence network between countries. Exploring key countries in the tungsten industry chain trade dependence network is of great significance for mitigating trade risks in the future. To this end, this paper construct tungsten industry chain trade dependence multilayer network model to explore key countries' role. Results show that (1) the BRI has made remarkable impact on global trade pattern and intensified the trade dependence between countries; (2) China, Vietnam, and Indonesia have played important roles in the single-layer upstream, midstream, and downstream trade dependence network; (3) Remarkably, Thailand and Singapore, as countries with limited tungsten resources, are critical countries in both multilayer trade dependence networks and their own industrial chains over past eleven years, differing from single-layer networks. Our findings provide a holistic picture of key countries ranging from upstream, midstream, downstream and even the whole tungsten industry chain, attempting to draw attention from the perspective of trade dependence in cooperative organizations, namely BRI and provide policy implications for future risk management.