As the raw material of lithium-ion batteries, lithium carbonate plays an important role in the development of new energy field. Due to the extremely uneven distribution of lithium resources in the world, the security of supply in countries with less say would be greatly threatened if trade restrictions or other accidents occurred in large-scale exporting countries. It is of great significance to help these countries find new partners based on the existing trade topology. This study uses the link prediction method, based on the perspective of the topological structure of trade networks in various countries and trade rules, and eliminates the influence of large-scale lithium carbonate exporting countries on the lithium carbonate trade of other countries, to find potential lithium carbonate trade links among importing and small-scale exporting countries, and summarizes three trade rules: (1) in potential relationships involving two net importers, a relationship involving either China or the Netherlands is more likely to occur; (2) for all potential relationships, a relationship that actually occurred for more than two years in the period in 2009–2018 is more likely to occur in the future; and (3) potential relationships pairing a net exporter with a net importer are more likely to occur than other country combinations. The results show that over the next five to six years, Denmark and Italy, Netherlands and South Africa, Turkey and USA are most likely to have a lithium carbonate trading relationship, while Slovenia and USA, and Belgium and Thailand are the least likely to trade lithium carbonate. Through this study, we can strengthen the supply security of lithium carbonate resources in international trade, and provide international trade policy recommendations for the governments of importing countries and small-scale exporting countries.

To study the trade characteristics and important trends of leading countries in conventional energy networks, this paper uses trade data on coal, oil and natural gas based on complex network theory; constructs a comprehensive directed weighted network; and analyzes the trade relations, trade volume, betweenness centrality and trade groups of China, the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The results show that import and export trade relations exhibit the characteristics of power-law distribution, but the four countries are developing toward diversified trading partners. The United States has the greatest advantage in obtaining conventional energy and has the strongest control over energy. China’s advantage in obtaining conventional energy shows a downward trend, but its control over energy is second only to the United States. Saudi Arabia has the least advantage in obtaining energy and the weakest control, and it is an energy supplier. Russia’s trading bloc is the most stable. These four countries played a leading role in their trade bloc in most years.