LONDON, 30 Jan. - (ANA) - Europe’s efforts to de-risk its supply of critical minerals are accelerating, but meaningful reductions in dependence on China will not materialise before the 2030s. Until then, EU industries remain highly exposed to Beijing’s tightening and increasingly extraterritorial export-control regime.

 

Europe has long been dependent on China for critical minerals and rare-earth elements. The gradual tightening of China’s export-control regime on these products in 2025 has been a stark reminder to European leaders of the risks involved. Although national leaders and those in the European Union are now pursuing an ambitious agenda to de-risk their economies from dependencies on China, it is unlikely that these efforts will achieve substantial change until the 2030s, leaving the region reliant on Beijing to keep the tap on. As a result, Europe will remain exposed to further risks of weaponisation of these chokepoints for at least the rest of this decade.

 

 

 

 

Critical raw materials are inputs that are economically and strategically important but are subject to high supply risk; these include lithium, cobalt and other metals and compounds. Rare-earth elements are a group of 17 metals whose properties make them indispensable for advanced manufacturing, including of electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, advanced electronics and many military systems. China dominates this market: it produces roughly 70% of global rare-earth mine output and controls close to 90% of refining and magnet-making capacity. Almost half of the world’s reserves of rare earths lie under China’s soil. - (ANA) - 

 

AB/ANA/30 January 2026 - - -