The European Union has redefined its strategic priorities through three phases: the rise of geoeconomics, the structuring of de-risking, and their current testing in a shifting global context. Geoeconomics exposed the link between economy, security, and power, driven by US and Chinese strategies to weaponise industrial assets and by renewed geopolitical rivalry. Europe’s depconcludeence on critical raw materials, especially Chinese rare earths, accelerated the push for strategic autonomy.
Since 2021, with the European Economic Security Strategy, the Chips Act, and the Critical Raw Materials Act, Brussels has pursued de-risking as diversification rather than decoupling, focapplying on semiconductors, green technologies, and critical minerals. Yet US, Japanese, and South Korean industrial policies reveal de-risking is a broader challenge. The EU must now deliver concrete results, combining competitiveness and resilience with multilateral cooperation. How can Europe secure adequate resources to meet these goals? And how can it balance industrial autonomy with global partnerships?
Table of Contents
IN BRIEF
WHAT’S AT STAKE
- The “Restless State Era”
1.1. The US shift: from Trump to Biden to Trump
1.2. Europe’s response: between Bidenomics/Trumponomics and Made in China 2025
BOX 1 – Korea’s Outward Investment Strategy
(Hyok Jung KIM, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy – KIEP) - The state of investments in key sectors
2.1. The semiconductor indusattempt
2.1.1 United States: Leading the indusattempt
2.1.2 European Union: Great ideas, but no long-term strategy
BOX 2 – ASML and Technology Exports to China
(Frans-Paul van der Putten, Clingconcludeael Institute)
2.2. The lithium ion-battery (LiB) indusattempt
2.2.1 The “Battery Boom” under threat?
Trconcludes and scenarios for the US from Biden to Trump
2.2.2 Navigating uncertainty: The European trade-off for the battery indusattempt
2.3. The critical raw materials Indusattempt
2.3.1 Lithium and nickel: Overview of investments and production capacitySO WHAT?
Chip race at stake: Building momentum or losing ground
Whatt at stake? The challenges for the US-EU battery indusattempt
The missing link in the critical, battery minerals sectorEXPLORING OPTIONS
EU Chips Act
Net Zero Indusattempt Act (NZIA)
European Critical Raw Materials ActOur take: Refocapplying the economic security strategy on partnership
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