Cold War Echoes of Great Power Minerals Strategy

21 Apr 2026 11:58 AM

The maturation of Chinese and US strategies to control strategic minerals supply chains echo Cold War structures. Fresh EU and UK plans are already behind the times.

The Cold War was a period of intense systemic competition between the US (and its allies) and the USSR. Competition was holistic, spanning geographies and sectors, and profoundly affected countries drawn into the orbit of these superpowers. This was not only a battle for influence and access to markets and resources, but an economic and industrial arms race, as blocs sought to protect vital supply chains and gain the technological edge.

As strategic rivalry between China and the US intensifies and both prepare for supply chain disruption, Europe and the UK struggle to pay their way and show little sign of treating the challenge with the urgency required by the geopolitical environment.

Both China and the US have accelerated efforts to secure strategic interests in critical supply chains, including minerals. This has produced strategies reminiscent of Cold War resource, technology and infrastructure competition, alongside a modern economic arsenal of controls, taxes and regulations. In Washington and Beijing, securing mineral supply chains is now seen as a prerequisite for strategic competition in the 21st century.

By contrast, the EU’s RESourceEU Action Plan, published in December, and the UK’s Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy, published in November, set targets and signal more proactive pathways, but struggle with the immediacy and scale of the challenge.