BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Saturday that Europe must reduce its dependence on China for critical raw materials, calling for urgent diversification of supply sources to safeguard industrial and strategic sectors.

Speaking at a conference in Berlin, von der Leyen said China’s recent export restrictions on rare earth and battery materials have underscored Europe’s vulnerability.

“In recent weeks and months, China has dramatically tightened export controls over rare earth and battery materials. At least to some extent, this is part of wider economic friction between China and the United States but it has a huge impact on us here in the European Union,” she said.

She noted that the decisions announced by Beijing on Oct. 9 “pose a significant risk” to European industries reliant on these materials, including automotive, semiconductor, defense, and aerospace sectors.

China recently expanded its export controls to cover five additional rare-earth metals, bringing the total restricted elements to twelve out of seventeen.

The move came ahead of a planned Oct. 30 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Von der Leyen warned that these actions could “severely hamper other countries except China from developing a rare earth industry,” threatening global supply chain stability.

“If you consider that over 90% of our consumption of rare earth magnets comes from imports from China, you see the risks here for Europe,” she said.

She outlined plans to accelerate the creation of alternative supply channels through partnerships with countries such as Ukraine, Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Chile, and Greenland.

“The aim is to create alternative sources of critical raw materials in the short, medium and long-term for our European industries,” she said.

“Europe cannot do things the same way anymore. We learned this lesson painfully with energy, we will not repeat it with critical materials.” — Agencies