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U.S. pulls ahead of EU in critical minerals investment drive
The head of a Europe-wide critical minerals industry group told the Financial Times that EU coordination is slower, while U.S. efforts come with larger investment and offtake commitments.
The United States is accelerating its critical minerals ambitions, investing billions to secure non-Chinese supply, while Europe remains behind and is falling further out of pace, according to OilPrice. OilPrice reports that Bernd Schaefer, head of a Europe-wide organization representing critical minerals companies, criticized the EU’s approach to investment as slow and over-administered. Schaefer said Europeans hesitate, over-communicate, and lose time, contrasting that with what he described as faster U.S. execution. The article also notes that the EU was already behind the U.S. on critical minerals and argues the gap has widened because European investment is coordinated by EU authorities in Brussels. It adds that the U.S. is seen as more generous with investment and offtake commitments, which comes at the EU’s expense, and that politicians and administrators in Brussels are unlikely to agree with Schaefer’s assessment. OilPrice frames the development in the context of the Trump administration pushing to build a critical mineral supply chain that does not rely on Chinese supply. The piece says multiple publications have covered this effort, linking it to the broader supply and investment race for strategic materials.