AGE
Agricola
Roma - Rearmament, Trump wins twice: rare earths from Ukraine and weapons to the EU. USA with 42% is the largest producer in the world. INFOGRAPHICS
Trump’s double victory: rare earths and weapons to the EU. European “rearmament” is especially beneficial to the USA, the largest producer in the world: it covers 42% of the armaments market “We live in dangerous times, the security of Europe is seriously threatened, the question now is whether we will be able to react with the necessary speed.” It is with these words that Ursula Von der Leyen, reappointed president of the European Commission on 18 July 2024, presented the “Rearm Europe” plan: approximately 800 billion in four years to enable the European Union to be able to count on a military and defense apparatus that is substantially alternative to NATO and independent of “umbrella” of the United States of America to which – in fact – a large part of the security of the Old Continent had been delegated.
REARM EUROPE
What purpose will this sort of military-style “Recovery Fund” serve? To arm the countries of the EU area, essentially, through a series of interventions that can be summarized in a few steps: the activation of a national safeguard clause in the Stability and Growth Pact to allow member states to significantly increase defense spending, a new instrument will provide 150 billion euros in loans to member states for defense investments, the mobilization of 800 billion euros in defense spending, the mobilization of private capital to accelerate rearmament times. In short, a huge amount of money to make the defense capacity of the European Union member states autonomous. Independent from whom? From Donald Trump’s United States, evidently, which is no longer considered a completely reliable partner in terms of military collaboration.
The attitude adopted by the new president of the United States, in fact, since the day of his inauguration, has clarified one fact: Europe is no longer America’s best friend, starting from the issue of the war in Ukraine and bilateral trade relations. Between the tariffs – those announced and those that will actually be applied – and the attitude adopted by the White House on the issue of war, through a series of very explicit declarations (“The European Union was born to defraud the USA”), Donald Trump does not at all seem like a person with whom one can do business. But thanks to the war in Ukraine and the “Rearm Europe” plan, Trump risks making the good deals his own: with Europe’s money and resources.
TRUMP’S “DOUBLE SHOT”.
After the sensational rupture live worldwide by the US president, his deputy J.D. Vance and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the acceleration appears evident: the EU must take action from the point of view of military capacity because it risks having to manage Ukraine’s defense from Russian aims alone, and Ukraine needs new supplies of weapons to continue a war that sees it in difficulty. And here, a sort of “double shot” appears on the horizon, a double blow by the businessman Trump: the enormous deal of Ukrainian “Rare Earths” and the influx of enormous capital into the arms market, in which the big US companies reign supreme.
UKRAINE HAS 5% OF THE WORLD’S MINERAL RESOURCES COMPARED TO 0.4% OF GLOBAL LAND COVER
Ukraine, according to a 2022 article by the president of the Association of Ukrainian Geologists, Hanna Liventseva, possesses about 5% of the world’s mineral resources, despite covering only 0.4% of the globe’s surface.
IT HAS 22 OF THE 34 MINERALS ESSENTIAL FOR HIGH TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENERGY TRANSITION
Again according to data released by Ukraine itself and cited by various international news agencies, the country has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified as “critical” by the European Union, including rare earths such as lanthane, cerium, neodymium, erbium and yttrium. These are essential minerals for the energy transition and above all for high technology, of which China is currently the largest holder in the world. Trump wants those minerals: hence the agreement on “Ukrainian rare earths” which seemed to have collapsed after the altercation with Zelensky, and which now – after a series of statements from the Ukrainian president himself, willing to retrace his steps – seems to be able to be concluded. What does it consist of? Basically, military and diplomatic support in exchange for minerals.
ACCORDING TO THE USA, UKRAINE IS “IN DEBT”
According to the US administration, Ukraine is in “debt” for the military assistance guaranteed by Joe Biden, and must somehow repay the favor. Furthermore, there is current events: Trump is positioning himself as a “peacemaker”, he is in contact with Puti’s Russia, he is reopening diplomatic channels, he can guarantee further military support to Kiev, but in exchange for a very advantageous agreement on rare minerals. And then, as mentioned, there is the question of European rearmament, which risks turning into an excellent deal for the United States and – paradoxically – China.
ARMS MARKET? 42% IN THE HAND OF US COMPANIES
According to a report – among numerous others – by Sipri (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), the United States is by far the leading arms exporter in the world, with a market share of around 42%. In second place in the arms export rankings are France and Russia with 11% each, which together represent half of the market share held by the American war industry. Sipri has also published the ranking of the top ten arms producing companies in the world: the top five are American, with an economic “turnover” of almost 200 billion dollars, 25% of the total sum that the European “Rearm Plan” would allocate. A small part of the gain would also go to Italy, which according to the Sipri report is in sixth place in the world in arms exports, with 4.3% of the market in hand.
Does Europe want to rearm? The deal for the United States is total. The rearmed EU, in fact, means a smaller commitment for the United States, with military costs decreasing. Furthermore, 42% of the armaments that Europe will purchase will most presumably come from the American market, which will be able to count on the availability of critical materials from Ukraine.