{"id":797275,"date":"2026-10-09T18:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797275\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T18:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:30:19","slug":"eu-pulling-out-all-stops-with-minerals-projects-as-it-tries-to-avert-china-trade-war-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797275\/","title":{"rendered":"EU \u2018pulling out all stops\u2019 with minerals projects as it tries to avert China trade war | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU is \u201cpulling out all the stops\u201d to fend off an imminent potential trade crisis with China<\/a>, the industry commissioner, St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9, has said, as the bloc announced its backing for a string of critical materials projects.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9journ\u00e9 said on Friday that the EU would support 46 new strategic projects to accelerate supplies of critical raw materials by 2030 across the bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could face a crisis in the coming months,\u201d he said. \u201cWe may face trade tensions that could also trigger a crisis in a number of sectors. We need to be prepared for that. And we\u2019re getting ready right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new projects include plants for supplies of lithium, gallium and rare earths needed for the auto, defence and renewable energy industries, with a funding cost of \u20ac21bn (\u00a317.8bn).<\/p>\n

They were unveiled just as the EU works to avert a trade war with China<\/a>, with the trade commissioner, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, continuing talks on Friday in Beijing aimed at reducing China\u2019s \u201cunsustainable\u201d \u00a31bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pulling out all the stops to move as quickly as possible. The primary objective is the targets set by law, and beyond that, there\u2019s a geopolitical challenge that could catch up with us very quickly,\u201d said S\u00e9journ\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cMines are opening, factories are being built, financing agreements are being signed, and a European value chain is emerging,\u201d S\u00e9journ\u00e9 added.<\/p>\n

Amid some scepticism over the EU\u2019s ability to meet its 2030 targets to reduce dependencies on China, S\u00e9journ\u00e9 cited three \u201cemblematic\u201d projects which have previously been identified as strategic, earmarking them for accelerated permits.<\/p>\n

These included a rare earths plant near Pau in south-western France. The Carester plant, which is expected to be up and running in late 2026, produces dysprosium and terbium, \u201ctwo raw materials for which we are almost entirely dependent on China\u201d, used in magnets for electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis single project could account for about 15% of global production of these oxides. That is no small feat,\u201d S\u00e9journ\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

He also name-checked a gallium plant in Greece which is already up and running.<\/p>\n

The third, Keliber, a lithium extraction and processing plant in Finland, is also operational after \u20ac150m support from the European Investment Bank.<\/p>\n

The 46 projects are the second batch of initiatives to receive flagship status since the Critical Raw Materials Act of 2024, which legally mandates the European Commission to reduce the bloc\u2019s dependency on foreign countries.<\/p>\n

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The EU hopes to follow in the footsteps of Japan, which has reduced dependency on China for rare earths to 60% from 90% since 2011, when Beijing prohibited exports of about 20 materials to Japan, claiming they were being used for military purposes.<\/p>\n

Although the flagship status does not bring the projects direct funds, it enables accelerated permitting, and help in mobilising funds.<\/p>\n

However, there has been criticism in industry within the EU that the scheme is not strong enough to deliver targets to mine 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of the bloc\u2019s needs by 2030.<\/p>\n

The French lithium refiner Viridian Lithium, which received EU strategic status in 2025, went into judicial liquidation in March this year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, a group of 23 of the 60 projects designated strategic in 2025 wrote to the European Commission calling for more action to \u201curgently unlock projects, particularly those working towards final investment decision which face acute liquidity and market pressure and \u200bimmediate jeopardy\u201d.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9journ\u00e9 said member states had unlocked \u20ac1bn for six of the projects, with the European Investment Bank providing another \u20ac660m for eight projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU is \u201cpulling out all the stops\u201d to fend off an imminent potential trade crisis with China,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-797275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}