The EU wants to cut reliance on powers like China for mineral supplies by the end of the decade. As geopolitical tensions boil, EU Decoded asks whether the bloc can keep up with its competitors. World powers are scrambling to get ahead in the race for the minerals needed to produce new technologies such as microchips, solar panels and electric cars.
US President Donald Trump has invoked wartime powers to boost American production, and has contemplated the use of economic, military and diplomatic force to gain access to Canada, Greenland and Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
China is using its near-monopoly of the minerals refining market to get the upper hand over its geopolitical rivals. In this new battlefield among world powers, where does the European Union stand? According to the EU executive, EU demand for some elements is set to sky-rocket over the coming decade. Its lithium needs, for example, essential to produce batteries for electric vehicles, will increase twelve-fold by 2030 and a staggering twenty-one-fold by 2050.
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