US President Joe Biden and top EU official Ursula von der Leyen yesterday announced the start of negotiations on granting access to European producers seeking to export critical minerals for electric vehicle (EV) batteries under a new US programme to stimulate the green economy.
“We intend to immediately begin negotiations on a targeted critical minerals agreement for the purpose of enabling relevant critical minerals extracted or processed in the European Union” to qualify for the US government subsidies under Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) stimulus plan, they said in a joint statement.