Op-Ed: Europe’s ‘buy European’ plan misses minerals

Earlier this month, European Union leaders agreed to press ahead with a ‘Buy European’ policy to protect strategic sectors of the bloc’s industry, but in doing so they risk overlooking the critical minerals sector that underpins our place in the global economy.

When most people picture “strategic sectors,” they think of car production lines and steel foundries. Yet every product begins with raw materials. Whoever controls raw materials controls the first link in the chain, shaping supply chains, prices, industrial continuity and, ultimately, economic sovereignty.

If Europe wants a serious industrial strategy, it cannot focus only on end products. It must think vertically, from geology to processing, from refining to components, from manufacturing to strategic stockpiles. That is resilience by design. Without it, Europe will remain structurally vulnerable and exposed to the decisions of the superpowers that control upstream supply.

The 1990s were described as “the end of history.” Fukuyama’s phrase captured a belief in an increasingly borderless world. In 2026, borders remain firmly in place, and Europe sits between two competing power centres. China has inherited 18th-century Britain’s title as the “workshop of the world,” with a manufacturing base unrivalled in scale and cost. The US leads in investment and technological innovation on a similarly unmatched scale.

Both now understand that industry does not begin at the factory gate. China has thought vertically for decades, securing mining rights, building refining capacity, locking in offtakes and shaping entire supply ecosystems. The US has woken up to this reality and is acting in ways that should serve as a warning to Europe.

As the world enters an AI-driven age that demands advanced manufacturing at unprecedented scale, Europe must define its role. The ‘Buy European’ programme rightly recognises the need to protect and strengthen our high-quality manufacturing base. Despite mounting external pressures, Europe still builds things exceptionally well.

But what about the materials needed to build them? Statements from the latest EU summit focused almost entirely on finished products. Leaders warned of factory closures and declining investment creating an “existential crisis.” They said little about critical minerals.

This silence is increasingly indefensible. The US has launched the DFC fund to finance secure supply chains and back strategic projects across the value chain, ensuring access to the minerals that underpin advanced manufacturing, defence, energy security and technological leadership.

It is also making direct strategic moves. In February 2026, the US-backed Orion Critical Mineral Consortium, supported by the US International Development Finance Corp. and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, agreed to acquire a 40% stake in Glencore’s Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, implying an enterprise value of about $9 billion. This is strategy in action. It recognises that minerals at the base of the value chain are levers of national power.

Europe, too, has substantial resources beneath its feet. The IEA’s 2025 outlook values the sector at nearly €30 billion ($35 billion), while the European Commission estimates its potential at several multiples of that figure.

Yet many assume critical minerals are the domain of China and the US. Attention often focuses on the scramble for concessions in sub-Saharan Africa, with Europe treated as an afterthought. This assumption is wrong and risks steering policy down a short-sighted path.

Mineral edge

Europe can extract or refine copper, lithium, high-purity alumina, phosphate and titanium at significant scale. Each is essential to the industrial transition now under way. Scaling renewables to meet ambitious climate targets will require vast quantities of these materials. The same will happen with the accelerating shift to EVs. Phosphate underpins food security through fertilizer and supports defence production. Titanium remains indispensable for defence and aerospace. These minerals will shape the economic and strategic landscape of the coming decades.

Critical minerals may be largely invisible to the public, but they will play a growing role in daily life and future prosperity. Where we source them, how we transport them and what we pay for them will remain open questions for years to come.

The European Union must bring its leaders back to the table and update the ‘Buy European’ approach. A strategy focused solely on manufacturing sees only part of the picture. Integrating critical minerals would place Europe on firmer ground as it navigates between the twin giants of the US and China.

* Michael Wurmser is the founder of Norge Mineraler