Strategic minerals corridor, against China
EU and US invest heavily in Lobito Corridor. Rail link to Atlantic gives access to minerals-rich Zambia/Congo region. While officially promoting development, the project is driven by China rivalry and commercial interests.
LUANDA/LUSAKA/BRUSSELS (our own report) – In southern Africa, competition between China, the US and the EU for access to strategic raw materials is hotting up. A key role is played by the Lobito Corridor, a rail and logistics link planned to run from the ‘copper belt’ of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic. This major infrastructure project is regarded as one of the most important initiatives under the European Global Gateway strategy. Both Brussels and Washington, which is also investing in the scheme, are desperate to reduce dependency on China for critical minerals. In future, copper, cobalt, lithium and other raw materials required for the production of batteries, electric vehicles, digital technologies and defence equipment are to be transported westwards along this route. The initiative builds on infrastructure that was originally constructed during the colonial era to get hold of African raw materials and ship them to Europe. Critics argue that the upgrading of the Lobito Corridor now perpetuates a longstanding pattern of extractivist colonialism under a new guise.
Strategy to counter Beijing
It was back in September 2021 when the European Commission adopted its ‘Global Gateway’ programme. The plan is to invest around 300 billion euros by 2027 in infrastructure projects in countries across Africa, Asia, Oceania, South-Eastern Europe, and South and Central America. The programme was from the outset seen as a countermeasure to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.[1] A key objective in this context is the diversification of sources for importing critical raw materials into Europe. The aim is above all to reduce Europe’s dependency on raw materials from China. When Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche (CDU) visited China at the end of May 2026, she emphasised the importance of having reliable access to critical raw materials and rare earths. It is precisely this field of commodities in which the Federal Republic is heavily dependent on China.
Colonial infrastructure
Exemplary for the EU’s infrastructure initiatives is the ‘Lobito Corridor’. The plan is to build a 1,300-kilometre-long railway line stretching from the edge of the Zambian-South Congolese copper belt to the port of Lobito in Angola. The basic foundations of this trade corridor were laid as early as 1902, at the height of European colonialism. The Benguela Railway ran eastwards from the port city of Lobito through what is now Angola and was intended to open up the copper-rich regions of southern Congo and Zambia. In 1931, following the completion of the first section of the railway, the British mining and railway company Tanganyika Concessions transferred the 99-year concession to Portugal’s colony of Angola. The concession expired in 2001, whereupon the infrastructure, which had until then been controlled by the Portuguese authorities, was transferred to the Angolan government.[2] With the logistical upgrade, one million tonnes of copper are expected to be transported via the line each year by 2030.[3] Both the EU and the US are particularly interested in making the Lobito Corridor work as they seek to counter China’s strong position in the African raw materials sector. It is estimated that around two-thirds of global cobalt production comes from the Congo, where Chinese companies are particularly active in mining. And China now accounts for around 75 per cent of global cobalt processing. The colonial railway route to Lobito could enable copper, cobalt and other natural resources to flow westwards. So far these export commodities have been transported eastwards, primarily via Tanzania. The line to Africa’s west coast would allow raw materials to be processed in Europe or North America rather than in China.[4]
European influence
In addition to copper and cobalt, the region is of considerable economic importance due to its large deposits of lithium, coltan, nickel and rare earths. These are the raw materials required for products like electric car batteries, stationary energy storage systems and alloys for fighter aircraft. The EU has so far been sourcing many of these raw materials from China. By buying a strategic stake in a new logistics centre in the Angolan town of Luau, situated on the Lobito Corridor, the EU wants to reduce this dependence. The railway line along the Lobito Corridor is already operated by a European consortium comprising the Swiss commodities trader Trafigura, the Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil, and the Belgian railway company Vecturis. However, the majority of the actual mines remain under Chinese control.[5] In the Congo, 24 of the 33 cobalt exporters are in Chinese hands.
The corridor is a flagship project
The EU’s efforts to secure control of the Lobito Corridor go hand in hand with similar endeavours by the US. As early as 2022, the US had agreed with the EU and other G7 member states a memorandum of understanding to mobilise more than 600 billion dollars over the following five years for investment in infrastructure projects around the world. This big spend is part of the G7’s ‘Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment’ (PGII) project. The Lobito Corridor is one of five key trade, transit and development routes in southern Africa that are intended to improve transport efficiency. Under the President Joe Biden administration funding for the Lobito Corridor – under the umbrella of the G7’s PGII project – was launched as a flagship project in cooperation with Global Gateway. The upgrading of the Lobito Corridor is also regarded as a flagship project for the EU. Brussels is providing investment of more than two billion euros for this purpose alone. The funding might even be ramped up. For the European Commission has proposed a huge long-term framework budget (2028 to 2034), including double spending on development and foreign aid. Instead of 108 billion euros, 200 billion euros are to be provided to strengthen the EU’s reach. EU officials explain that one of the aims is to offer a “more holistic” approach than China’s New Silk Road by boosting European support for infrastructure. This description attempts to present the Commission’s influence-building measures as supposedly beneficial to the countries in which they are implemented.[6]
US interests
Washington, for its part, has now pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for the expansion of the Lobito Corridor.[7] In the last quarter of 2025 alone, it provided 553 million dollars in loans for the upgrading the corridor. A further 200 million US dollars came from the South African Development Bank.[8] Unlike the Biden administration, which at least still spoke of aid for development, the second Trump administration now quite openly defines the infrastructure project as a strategic measure to weaken China’s influence, strengthen American control over critical raw materials, and diversify supply chains to the US. For example, Frank Garcia, a US naval officer who was just sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, praised the Trump administration’s “America First” policy in general and the role of the Lobito Corridor in prioritising economic interests over traditional humanitarian assistance.
German profiteers
Last autumn, the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, travelled several kilometres along the newly restored railway line in the Angolan section of the Lobito Corridor. He spoke of a “strategic infrastructure project of immense economic significance. Adding, “This naturally also creates investment opportunities along this infrastructure link for European, and indeed German, companies.” The Portuguese construction firm MCA is already building a solar park in sixty Angolan municipalities at a cost of just under 1.29 billion euros. The client is the Angolan Ministry of Energy. The German government is underwriting the project through export credit guarantees. Should Angola be unable to meet its payment obligations, Germany will step in. Indeed, 95 per cent of the total sum is guaranteed by Berlin. In return, Angola has agreed to allow German companies to participate in the project. The battery energy storage system, for example, is being supplied by SMA Solar Technology from Niestetal near Kassel. The German solar technology provider Gantner Instruments Environment Solutions is supplying photovoltaic power plant control systems.[9]
Old patterns
Critics of the expansion of the Lobito Corridor warn that the project will primarily benefit the EU and the US, not the region. Rather than strengthening intra-African trade, they argue, it is designed above all to promote the export of Southern Africa’s natural resources. Whilst the EU in particular – and, at one time, the Biden administration, too – have portrayed the corridor and its logistics as a development project serving African interests, critics contend that it is ultimately a continuation of the West’s colonial extractive practices and, as a strategic counter to China, risks turning the region into a geopolitical chessboard.
[1] See: Wertebasierte Infrastruktur.
[2] Federica Marsi: What is the Lobito Corridor, cited by US Africa envoy as model for ties? aljazeera.com 27.05.2026.
[3] Alice Hancock, Laura Dubois, Henry Foy: EU foreign aid takes transactional turn with Africa minerals push. ft.com 24.12.2025.
[4] See: Der Lobito-Korridor.
[5] Jonas Gerding: So will Europa China wichtige Rohstoffe wegnehmen. handelsblatt.com 16.06.2026.
[6] Alice Hancock, Laura Dubois, Henry Foy: EU foreign aid takes transactional turn with Africa minerals push. ft.com 24.12.2025.
[7] EU setzt auf neue Rohstoffroute durch Afrika. handelsblatt.com 28.05.2026.
[8] Lobito Corridor emerges as a new Atlantic Gateway for critical minerals. steelradar.com 16.02.2026.
[9] Jonas Gerding: So will Europa China wichtige Rohstoffe wegnehmen. handelsblatt.com 16.06.2026.
