As the EU tries hard to cut its energy supplies from Russia, the bloc is also heavily dependent on China when it comes to industrial metals and rare earths that the bloc needs for wind turbines, electric vehicles, solar cells and semiconductors. Given the increased speed of digitization and energy transition, demand for such raw materials is bound to rise further, but mining is concentrated in only a handful of regions in the world. This means that in the future China could cause a big headache for the European Union. The Asian country exports many raw materials that are indispensable for future-oriented industries. ... (full story)