The EU is developing a new plan to seek alternative sources for critical minerals, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on 25 October, following China's latest expansion of export controls on rare earths.
The RESourceEU plan will prioritise partnerships with countries containing critical mineral deposits such as Australia, Chile, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. A key aim of the plan is to co-ordinate member state actions across the supply chain "from joint purchasing to stockpiling", von der Leyen announced in a speech at the Berlin Global Dialogue.
The initiative will form part of the commission's broader 2026 work plan for a "more independent Europe", which includes a proposal to create a Critical Raw Materials Centre to centralise planning.
The plan builds on the bloc's Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force in May 2024. The legislation identified a list of 34 critical and 17 strategic materials and set 2030 targets for domestic production, processing and recycling capacity.
Earlier this year the commission also granted ‘strategic project' status to 47 critical materials projects in the bloc, which will distribute a total €22.5bn of investment to strengthen domestic industrial capacity. But market participants had mixed reactions to the announcement, especially when compared with the larger subsidies provided to industry in China and the US.
The EU will have to compete with the US for an increasingly tight supply of critical minerals as both seek to increase their stockpiles. The US Defense Logistics Agency already issued several tenders and requests for information last month with fixed-price commitments and quantities that are "beyond what we typically see", according to a trader.
