Enabling Strategic Alliances

Europe is facing an increasingly complex external economic environment characterized by strategic competition and supply chain fragility. To maintain competitiveness, the report proposes four priorities: broadening trade agreements to include economic security, evolving the Global Gateway into a more effective strategic investment platform, reinforcing the economic security framework with proportionate measures, and accelerating the critical raw materials strategy through better project bankability and circularity. The analysis highlights significant dependencies on China for critical minerals and the need for targeted de-risking rather than decoupling from major trading partners like the US and China.

• Europe faces severe strategic dependencies on specific countries for critical raw materials, including 100% reliance on China for heavy rare earths, 92% on Brazil for niobium, and 79% on Chile for lithium.
• The Global Gateway has mobilized over €300 billion in five years and aims to exceed €400 billion by 2027, but it struggles to mobilize private capital due to a lack of flexible financing architectures and investable structures.
• Europe's trade defense instruments are underutilized or inefficient; for example, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation saw over 1,300 public procurement notifications in its first year but only four in-depth investigations.
• The EU is shifting toward a more integrated approach by complementing trade agreements with security and defence partnerships, concluding such agreements with twelve countries between 2024 and May 2026.
• Mineral circularity is a strategic opportunity for Europe, but progress is slow; only 12.2% of materials used in the EU in 2024 came from recycled sources, hindered by high upfront costs and long payback periods.
• Europe lacks a dedicated, minerals-focused financing vehicle comparable to the US International Development Finance Corporation or Japan Bank for International Cooperation to deploy concessional or equity tools for projects outside the EU.

APA

World Economic Forum (n.d.). Enabling Strategic Alliances. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Strategic_Alliances_2026.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Enabling Strategic Alliances. n.d. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Strategic_Alliances_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Enabling Strategic Alliances |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Strategic_Alliances_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforumndenabling, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Enabling Strategic Alliances}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Enabling_Strategic_Alliances_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }