China’s move to ban exports of rare metals to the US underscores the need for trade cooperation between mineral-rich Canada and its southern neighbor…That’s the message from the Mining Association of Canada, which argued that China’s decision to curb shipments of gallium, germanium and other key metals to the US is “a stark reminder of the challenges posed by geopolitical tensions, particularly on the reliable supply of critical minerals.”…“Imposing tariffs on Canadian mineral and metal exports to the US would run counter to the shared goals of secure and reliable supply chains,” Pierre Gratton, the mining association’s president, said in Tuesday’s statement. “Such measures risk disrupting the essential flow of these resources, undermining the competitiveness of North American industries, and exacerbating vulnerabilities in critical mineral supply chains that both nations are working to address.”…Meanwhile, Vancouver-based metals producer Teck Resources Ltd., one of the world’s largest integrated germanium producers, said it’s looking at ways to boost its output of the metal in the wake of China’s export ban…Canada was responsible for supplying nearly half of the US’s import needs of germanium between 2019 and 2022, according to the US Geological Survey.

Thailand will extend a production timeframe for battery electric vehicles (BEV) and offer incentives for hybrid EVs to support the industry in Southeast Asia's automobile hub, its Board of Investment said on Wednesday…The measures are the latest to support a struggling auto sector that faces a grim future due to a stagnant domestic market at a time of tepid economic growth and tight credit conditions…The current EV incentive package requires local production this year of one vehicle for each vehicle that was imported earlier. The ratio will rise in 2025 to 1.5 vehicles for each vehicle imported…In recent years, it has seen a wave of Chinese EV investments valued over $1.44 billion from BYD, Great Wall Motors and Chagan…The EV 3.5 incentive package, which took effect in 2024, requires the production in 2026 of two vehicles for each vehicle imported under the scheme. The ratio will rise in 2027 to three vehicles for each vehicle imported…The meeting on Wednesday also approved a reduced excise tax rate for certain locally produced hybrid EVs (HEV) and mild hybrid EVs (MHEV), the BOI said.

In Vietnam's heavily polluted capital Hanoi, teenage taxi driver Phung Khac Trung rides his electric motorbike through streets jammed with two-wheelers belching toxic fumes…Trung, 19, is one of a growing number of Generation-Z workers driving an e-bike trend in the communist nation where 77 million -- largely petrol -- motorbikes rule the roads…A cheap set of electric wheels can now be had for as little as $500, but issues include wasting hours at charging stations and people finding it hard to give up their habits…More than two thirds of the poisonous smog that blankets Hanoi for much of the year is caused by petrol vehicles, city authorities said last year. The World Bank puts the figure at 30 percent…Vietnam officials have ordered that a quarter of two-wheelers across the country must be electric by 2030 to help battle the air crisis…In 2023 just nine percent of two wheelers sold were electric, according to the International Energy Agency -- although only in China was the share higher…Although most electric two-wheelers can easily be charged at home, fears over battery safety cause many to instead use one of the 150,000 EV power points installed by Nasdaq-listed VinFast across the country…Trung, whose VinFast scooter has a 200-kilometre (124-mile) range, spends up to three hours a day drinking tea and scrolling on his phone while he waits for his battery to charge -- time he could be picking up fares…But home-grown start-up Selex, which makes e-bikes and battery packs, has pioneered a quick-fix -- stations where riders can instantly swap a depleted battery for a new one…They "typically drive much longer distances than urban users", he said. "That's where the swapping is critical."…"We all understand that EVs are good for the environment. But it needs investment."

Now, Kolwezi is at the center of U.S.-Chinese competition over critical minerals…Earlier this year, mining firms began shipping ore along a U.S.-backed railway that terminates in Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito. A massive infrastructure project is focused on this rail line -- which is viewed as a bid to counter China's stranglehold over critical minerals in central Africa…President Biden is visiting Lobito Wednesday to promote the so-called Lobito Corridor, for which the U.S., European Union, G7, and private firms are mobilizing billions of dollars…The Lobito Atlantic Railway, which stretches over 800 miles, drastically cuts down on transportation times from Congo's copper and cobalt mining region. The port of Lobito is also situated on the Atlantic — closer to the U.S. and Europe than Africa's more widely used Indian Ocean ports…But Congo remains the true prize. The impoverished and unstable country has staggering mineral wealth, with some of its richest deposits concentrated around Kolwezi. More than 70% of the world's cobalt, a critical metal used in electric-vehicle batteries and jet engines, comes from Congo, for example…But despite the recent U.S. push to increase its footprint in critical minerals, China remains overwhelmingly dominant. Its firms own over 80 percent of Congo's copper mines, according to the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Authority. And they enjoy a similarly commanding position in cobalt extraction…In Kolwezi, the Chinese presence is ubiquitous. Billboards and buildings are plastered in Chinese characters, and the city has a string of Chinese-run casinos…."It's just a railway, nothing more," says Christian Geraud Neema, a China-Africa analyst and nonresident scholar in the Carnegie African Program…He added that the U.S. can hardly compete with China because it has no companies of its own on the ground. Neither will Lobito hamper Chinese industry. Any company — including Chinese ones — can also ship ore via the port…A testament to Chinese presence at all levels of Kolwezi's minerals trade: Ngoy says sells her ore to Congolese middlemen, who sell the minerals on to Chinese traders.

Fighting resumed in eastern Congo on Monday, again violating a ceasefire, the M23 rebel group and Congolese army said, casting doubt on whether the M23 group will cease its offensive after the withdrawal of Rwandan troops…The Tutsi-led M23 group has been waging a renewed insurgency in the Central African country's east since 2022. Congo and the United Nations accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group with its own troops and weapons….The Congolese and Rwandan presidents are due to meet on Dec. 15, according to an announcement Monday by state news in Angola, which has been mediating the conflict. It would be their first official meeting since 2023.