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The U.S. Congress and the European Parliament are said to ponder parallel hearings and a joint communiqué on crucial raw materials as part of efforts to cooperate on areas of strategic interest.

A recently published report by the UK Department for Transport, warning that supply of rare earth elements from China might not satisfy global needs in electric motor and NiMH battery production, and the general worries about China's plans to limit if not ban the export of rare earth elements, seem to have laid the grounds for closer collaboration between the European Union and the U.S.  

U.S. Congressman Bart Gordon, chairman of the Committee on Science & Technology of the House of Representatives, expressed in a hearing of the European Parliament's committee on industry, research and energy (ITRE) this week, his concerns about an eventual supply shortage of these raw materials crucial to the development of clean technologies. He suggested to hold parallel hearings in Brussels and Washington in order to share information on mineral supplies and to elaborate a coordinated EU-US approach to the issue in the World Trade Organization.

The European Commission had already in November 2009 set up an expert group charged with investigating a list of thirty-nine "potentially critical" raw materials, a shortage of which would seriously impede global competition.  

The U.S. on the other hand is currently revising the national materials policy. One possible outcome could be an amendment to the U.S. Rare Earths Bill, postulating the need for international cooperation.

Gordon also suggested that apart from the political cooperation, American and European researchers could also collaborate more closely to find substitute minerals, improve recycling and ensure natural resources are used efficiently.

The members of the ITRE committee seemed favourable to Gordon's advances. Both institutions are now looking into how they can organise closer collaboration and further “science diplomacy” between the EU and U.S.