Until recently, the U.S. and Europe cooperated closely to secure the global supply of vital raw materials. But the U.S. and other major powers are now striving for exclusive control over natural resources – to Europe’s detriment.
As international tensions escalate, major powers increasingly view an exclusive supply of key raw materials as a strategic asset.
Europe is in a hurry to rearm. Vital raw materials will play a key role in this plan, as they are needed for artillery shells, rockets and the microchips that guide them. However, this rising demand is coming up against a dwindling supply of strategic raw materials, says Norge Mining founder Michael Wurmser.
Despite his warning tones, the Swiss native would also profit from a surge in demand for commodities, as he still serves as an adviser to the Norwegian mining firm he helped create.
Norge Mining intends to mine phosphate rock in the southwest of Norway near Egersund, which contains the metals vanadium and titanium, both of which are used in the defense industry. Mining operations are due to start at the end of 2029.
The rock masses in this area are believed to contain 70 billion tons of phosphate, making it the world’s largest such known deposit. The EU has promised Norge Mining financial support in return for an agreement giving the continent’s companies access to the metals.
Trump’s Greenland plans scare Europe
A global race for vital raw materials has begun. U.S. President Donald Trump’s unfriendly advances toward Greenland can be interpreted as one sign of the leading powers’ fears of being left without sufficient access to such resources. The large island is rich in vital raw materials, and is located so close to the U.S. that mined metals can be transported there safely. This has piqued U.S. strategists’ interest in Greenland.
The EU has reacted to the U.S. advances with confusion. And indeed, Europe will have difficulties keeping up in this race for raw materials. Two hundred years ago, the continent rose to global prominence partly due to its lead in the coal- and iron-driven Industrial Revolution. Today, however, Europe is not home to significant mining operations.
New projects are difficult to implement. Scandinavia is perhaps Europe’s only exception in this regard. The extraction of raw materials is often associated with significant environmental damage, leading local populations to oppose such projects. Moreover, the processing of key metals generates further carbon emissions, and therefore draws widespread skepticism. Consequently, Europe mainly imports its raw materials, and mining expertise has largely been lost.
Norge Mining founder Michael Wurmser.
This situation has made EU policymakers nervous. A year ago, they responded by introducing the Critical Raw Material Act, which identifies 34 raw materials that are subject to high supply-chain risks, or which are seen as having critical long-term importance for industrial production. The act mandates that at least 10% of the strategic raw materials used on the continent be mined within the EU, and that 40% be processed there.
The EU initially drafted the CRMA with the aim of securing sufficient raw materials for the green transition, such as the lithium needed for electric vehicles. However, the context has now shifted – with rearmament now taking a greater priority than before. «Having a secure supply of key raw materials will be a key factor in Europe’s defense and economic independence,» says Wurmser.
The U.S. has gone from partner to competitor
In this regard, the situation has deteriorated dramatically for Europe. Until recently, the U.S. was a key partner in the raw materials sector. Two years ago, a long list of developed countries, along with the U.S. and the EU Commission, concluded the so-called Minerals Security Partnership, a cooperative agreement on raw materials. The pact was widely welcomed in the United States. In 2023, the U.S. State Department stated that the partnership would help make the supply of raw materials both stronger and more secure. Secure supply through cooperation was the motto of the day.
This perspective now seems to have emerged from a different age. International tensions have increased to such an extent that the powerful countries in particular are looking out only for themselves when it comes to raw materials.
Moreover, key commodities have been weaponized in the escalating trade conflict. When the U.S. imposed tariffs on China’s exports in February, the Asian superpower responded with one of its sharpest weapons in a matter of hours, introducing export controls on five key metals, including tungsten.
This heavy metal is used in part for weapons production. Thus, the fact that around 80% of the tungsten supplied globally in 2023 came from China should give all Western governments cause for concern. The country has similarly high market shares for many other critical metals.
Although it is not yet clear how these restrictions will impact Europe, the export controls are still bad news for the continent. They mean that the availability of important metals on the global market is decreasing.
The EU has always relied on cooperation and trade for its supply of raw materials. But now that more and more countries are restricting the free exchange of goods, the EU and Europe are facing difficulties.
The CRMA also called for the approval process for new mining projects to be accelerated in order to increase metal mining in Europe. Nevertheless, new mines are unlikely to go into operation for a long time to come. This is true even in Norway, where the government is heavily reliant on mining. Norge Mining carried out its first test drillings in the spring of 2020, which means it will take around nine years from that point before metals can be extracted.
Europe is thus in no position to ramp up its own raw materials extraction efforts quickly. This makes the EU all the more keen to forge partnerships with allied countries. The U.S. is now unlikely to be one of them, since Trump has been trying to drive a wedge between Greenland and Denmark.
Well-developed Western democracies would be the preferred partners for the EU. Norway fulfills this requirement perfectly, especially as the country is a neighbor and has high environmental standards for its mining sector.
However, such partnerships with other countries present more difficulties. Australia, for example, possesses a wealth of raw materials and is securely allied with Europe. Close cooperation via a free-trade agreement, for instance, would seem to be a logical step. But this project fell through two years ago, when Australia insisted on reducing trade barriers within the agricultural sector, which certain EU countries opposed.
Commodity deals with autocrats
Thus, the EU will have to lower its expectations when it comes to finding partners. Countries rich in natural resources are often politically unstable, governed by autocrats or located in regions rife with political tensions.
Some of these concerns apply to China as well. Nevertheless, the EU is now striving to repair its relations with the country, which had frayed after Europe’s introduction of tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars last fall.
When dealing with autocratically governed states, Europe must always be prepared for surprises. For example, in its search for partners, the EU has recently drawn closer to Turkey again.
Just last Wednesday, however, President Recep Erdoğan had Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, one of his main political rivals, arrested. The EU criticized the move, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas demanding that Turkey, itself an EU candidate country, hold itself to the highest democratic standards. The incident illustrates the difficulty in reconciling noble foreign policy principles and efforts to attain a secure supply of raw materials.
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