“Trade is being used as a weapon.” The sober and somber observation of the European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, does not take anyone by surprise, but it has served the European Commission to underline the importance of the EU protecting its economic security, starting with the most cutting-edge industry on the continent. On the same day that the Twenty-Seven have agreed to an accelerated disconnection from dependence on Russian gas before the end of 2027, Brussels proposes a similar program for critical materials, on which Europe is especially and dangerously dependent on China. The project includes measures that encourage the production of these materials in the EU and diversify purchases to other territories other than the Asian giant.
Among other elements, the action plan, baptized REsourceEU, foresees the mobilization of up to 3,000 million euros of European funds over the next 12 months to achieve “short-term alternative supplies” to the Chinese in rare earths, as well as the preparation of a calendar until 2029 to reduce external dependencies by up to 50%. The mobilization of funds will be accompanied by a simpler permitting procedure for critical raw materials “to allow rapid implementation of projects,” says the Commission, which undertakes to present a concrete simplification proposal for this purpose shortly.
Because the idea, community sources explain, is to have a global plan that responds both to the urgency of the moment and to prepare a long-term strategy, accelerating, among other measures, the processes of diversification and independence of these matters. This goes from diversifying their acquisition outside European borders, with the aim of getting rid of the high dependence on China, which in some critical matters currently exceeds 90%. It is what the Commission calls “diplomacy of critical matters,” and it plans to build on the 15 strategic alliances already signed with countries rich in resources, such as South Africa, and expand to others such as Brazil, with which Brussels announces that it wants to begin negotiations soon.
Behind the scenes, Europe must also better recycle some of these elements by improving the circular economy – currently less than 1% of rare earth elements are recycled in the EU – and by curbing the export of this type of waste. In particular, the Commission intends to propose, in the first half of 2026, the introduction of restrictions on the export of permanent magnet waste and residues based on a comprehensive assessment, as well as specific measures on aluminum waste. Furthermore, indicates the European Executive, if necessary, similar measures will be considered for copper waste.
All this, with very clear objectives: “We want to reduce dependence on graphite from the current 41% to 25%, that on cobalt from 63% to 44% and that on lithium, which is 90% today, to 44% in 2030,” explained the vice president of the Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné, when presenting the initiative together with Sefcovic, which he described as a key issue of “economic security” of the Twenty-seven.
Looking to the longer term, the Commission also proposes to create, “at the beginning of 2026”, a “European center for critical raw materials” with a broad mandate that will allow it to coordinate information on markets and supply chains, but also to supervise strategic joint purchases and storage of these materials critical for European competitiveness, with a view to protecting it from attempts at instrumentalization and price “shocks”.
With this plan, “Europe acts in favor of its independence in terms of critical raw materials,” Séjourné proclaimed this Wednesday. “In the global race for the materials our industries need most, RESourceEU is an engine of our industrial sovereignty, a cornerstone of Europe’s economic security,” he stressed.
Time is ticking and Brussels knows it. A month ago, the EU joined the agreement that the United States and China closed to lower those of the Asian giant, which threatened to strangle value chains around the world. But in Brussels no one is fooled: what has been done is, if anything, to buy time, a year, but the threat is still there. Hence the importance of not wasting a minute and having a “European autonomous plan”, insisted the sources consulted during the preparation of the project now officially launched, and which seeks to reinforce the Critical Raw Materials Act (regulation of critical raw materials) approved a year and a half ago, which already seeks to reduce dependence on extra-EU exports of 34 key minerals for European interests.
This project is part of a broader objective, which the Commission also underlined again this Wednesday: “Strengthening European economic security.” For this, the Executive of the Union proposes delving into some of the policies already implemented in previous years, such as the control of the purchase of technologically leading European companies by other countries. Like many of these measures, the target is on China.
The strategy for European economic security was launched in 2023 and what the Commission is doing now, saying it openly, is to deepen it. The fields in which it intends to act are trade, financial collaboration with third countries or anti-coercive measures. In the latter case, the EU has ready its anti-coercion instrument, which was talked about so much this summer during the trade war with the United States, and which was never used. It has not been used as much during the recent tensions seen with China – to which Sefcovic alluded when he said that “trade is being used as a weapon” – but it was also valued as a tool to use. The only thing missing, then, is that if the case arises, the EU maintains the necessary unity to use it.
