US steps into ‘Middle East of renewables era’ – and direct competition with China
- Washington has signed a memorandum of understanding with the DRC and Zambia to help develop their electric vehicle battery value chains
- Beijing has vast mining investments in the African nations, and renewed US focus in the region ‘will make it a battleground’, critical metals supplier says
America will help the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia develop their electric vehicle battery value chains – a move set to stir up competition with China for minerals essential to the green energy transition.
The resource-rich African nations have signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to bring funding and expertise into their mining industries.
At the signing ceremony in Washington on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US Agency for International Development, commerce department and Trade and Development Agency would provide technical assistance for electric vehicle supply chains in the two countries.
He said the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the International Development Finance Corporation would also explore financing and support mechanisms for investment in African electric vehicle value chains.
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi said the US was at the forefront of processing strategic products and strategic minerals, and that “the DRC has a lot of these minerals”.
“So we are ready to talk about a win-win partnership with the possibility of transforming these minerals in the DRC to create a value chain which will lead to the creation of thousands of jobs,” he said at the ceremony, held on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders Summit.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema also attended the ceremony. Stanley Kakubo, Zambia’s foreign minister, said the signing of the MoU “fits into a programme of us industrialising our countries, and also providing jobs, and also creating value chains for what we want to do in our country”.