by Christos Zabounis

While recently following international media, I discovered, like the rest of the world, what lies behind the unthinkable diplomatic behavior of the newly elected president of the United States towards his Ukrainian counterpart. Two words. Rare ‘earths’. These are areas of land that contain rare minerals with exotic names, such as lanthanum, thulium, neodymium, terbium, etc. These minerals, as well as others, are widely used in new technologies, from mobile phones to computers and from wind turbines to electric cars. According to the data that came to light, Ukraine has 8,700 rare earths, with several of them occupied by Russia in the eastern part of the country. The agreement for their joint exploitation with the United States has an ultimate goal: to prevent the dominance of China, which represents approximately 70% of the world’s rare earth production, and to achieve the energy independence of the Western superpower. The end of the war that Donald Trump so fervently desires is a matter of survival for the American economy, so direct understanding with Russia may also include a co-production dimension. Time is running out, because the processing of rare earths is time-consuming and burdensome for the environment. China has a lead of almost forty years. It was the distant 1987, when then-President Deng Xiaoping declared that “the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths”. As for Greece, despite having deposits of critical minerals, the “train” has been delayed considerably. The European Union, due to the environmental impacts of their extraction, has imposed strict restrictions. Thanks to Trump’s “awakening”, these restrictions are slowly starting to be lifted. We shall see.