Highlights

• Spain announces a €414 million investment to expand access to critical minerals for the green energy transition, including 34 policy measures to rehabilitate mining sites and improve resource management.
• Spain holds strategic mineral assets as the EU's only strontium and sepiolite producer, the world's largest roofing slate producer, and the second-largest copper producer in the bloc.
• Diplomatic tensions between Spain and the US escalate after Madrid refuses military base access for Iran strikes, with Trump threatening trade retaliation against Spain.

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Spain is taking a more assertive role in Europe’s push for greater critical minerals security. According to Reuters, the Spanish government has announced plans to invest €414 million (about $481 million) to expand access to key raw materials needed for the green energy transition and digital economy.

The initiative aligns with the European Union’s broader strategy to reduce dependence on imported critical minerals, particularly those sourced from geopolitically sensitive supply chains. Spanish officials say the funding will support exploration projects, recovery of raw materials from waste streams, and improvements in resource management.

The program includes 34 policy measures, among them efforts to rehabilitate abandoned mining sites and restore degraded land while encouraging more sustainable resource development.

A Key Resource for Europe

Spain already holds a meaningful position in Europe’s mineral landscape. The country is the world’s largest producer of roofing slate, the EU’s only producer of strontium and sepiolite, and the second-largest copper producer in the bloc. It also hosts notable resources of fluorite, feldspar, and tungsten.

For investors and policymakers, the move underscores a broader shift across Europe: turning dormant or underdeveloped mineral assets into strategic supply sources as the continent works to secure materials essential for electrification, clean energy technologies, and advanced manufacturing.

USA-Spain Tension

Tensions between Spain and the United States have risen sharply following the joint U.S.–Israeli military strikes on Iran. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly condemned the attacks as a “dangerous” and “unjustified” escalation carried out outside international law, and Madrid refused to allow the United States to use the jointly operated Rota naval base and Morón airbase in southern Spain for operations related to the strikes. The dispute escalated further after U.S. officials suggested Spain had agreed to cooperate militarily, a claim Spanish leaders strongly denied while reaffirming their opposition to the war.

The diplomatic clash has spilled into economic rhetoric as well, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening potential trade retaliation against Spain for its refusal to support the operation. The episode highlights a widening transatlantic divide over Middle East strategy and underscores how geopolitical conflicts are increasingly spilling into trade, security alliances, and industrial cooperation across the West.