The European Union and Washington are nearing an agreement to coordinate the production and security of critical minerals, Bloomberg News reported on Friday (10 April).
Critical minerals - including lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements - are key components in clean energy technologies, electronics and military systems.
China currently controls a large share of global refining and processing capacity, raising concerns in the EU and U.S. over supply security and geopolitical leverage.
The potential deal would include incentives such as minimum price guarantees that could favour non-Chinese suppliers, the report said, citing an “action plan”.
The EU and U.S. would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, along with increased coordination on any supply disruptions by countries such as China, the report added.
The European Commission declined to comment on the report. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said he had a “very positive” meeting in March with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cameroon.
The two sides agreed to advance cooperation on critical minerals and also discussed tariffs.
The EU–U.S. deal would cover “critical minerals along the entire value chain and life-cycle management, including exploration, extraction, processing, refining, recycling and recovery,” Bloomberg reported, citing a non-binding memorandum of understanding.
The U.S. has been scrambling to secure access to critical mineral reserves, especially rare earth supply chains currently dominated by Chinese players.
Rare earths are widely used across strategic sectors, including energy systems, transport, artificial intelligence, aerospace, healthcare and defence technologies. Their importance has grown due to their role in enabling advanced technologies and the concentration of global supply chains.
Critical minerals are generally defined as resources essential to a country’s economic performance and national security, but which are vulnerable to supply disruptions.
While these materials are geographically widespread, production is uneven, with a small number of countries controlling a significant share of reserves and processing capacity.
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Australia and the European Union signed a trade deal on Tuesday that was eight years in the making, removing tariffs for almost all European goods and for nearly all exports of Australian critical minerals.
Australia and Canada said on Thursday they had signed new agreements on critical minerals as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a landmark address to the Australian parliament, a sign of the developing bond between the "middle powers".
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Australia on Tuesday (3 March), aiming to bolster relations between the two so-called "middle powers" amid what he has called a "rupture" in world order.
Agreements signed by the United States, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Washington on 5 February show that the United States is changing how it secures access to strategic raw materials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has given an instruction for Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon that would also include the disarming of Hezbollah.
Some geographies are small on the map yet immense in history. The Strait of Hormuz is one. About a quarter of global oil trade and a fifth of LNG flows pass through this narrow corridor - around 20 million barrels per day sustaining the global system.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to continue dialogue and avoid steps that could worsen tensions after China-hosted talks in Urumqi, with Kabul and Beijing saying the meetings focused on easing differences and improving relations.
Memorial events were held in Tehran’s main squares on Wednesday (8 April) to mark the 40th day since the killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died during U.S.-Israeli attacks on 28 February.
North Korea has tested a new cluster-bomb warhead mounted on a tactical ballistic missile, alongside advanced electromagnetic and infrastructure-targeting weapons, in a significant escalation of its military capabilities.
In a forceful rebuke to Washington’s foreign policy in the Americas, a senior Russian diplomat has declared that Moscow will never abandon Cuba, pledging ongoing support to help the Communist-run island overcome a severe energy crisis linked to the United States embargo.
Hungary votes on Sunday in a parliamentary election that could loosen Viktor Orbán’s 16-year hold on power. His ruling Fidesz faces a strong challenge from Péter Magyar’s Tisza party, which has led some polls, though many voters remain undecided.
While a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war may deliver badly needed relief to economies battered by the world’s worst-ever energy crisis, hopes it will quickly restore normal oil and gas flows from the Middle East are almost certainly misplaced.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun that “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese” and that the future of cross-strait ties should be decided by “the Chinese people themselves”.
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