Canada, South Korea seek for mineral cooperation

• Justin Trudeau and Yoon Suk-yeol discussed ways to expand cooperation on critical minerals used in EV batteries.
• Both countries seek to reduce emissions to combat climate change.
• Yoon travelled to London for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, then to New York for his first trip to the U.N. General Assembly.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed On Friday to expand cooperation on critical minerals used in EV batteries as both countries seek to reduce emissions to combat climate change.

Yoon travelled to London for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, then to New York for his first trip to the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly before arriving in Canada on Thursday. Yoon met Trudeau in Ottawa on Friday and spoke to reporters together.

“Yoon and I discussed ways to collaborate in a variety of areas, including essential minerals, batteries for electric vehicles, and emerging technologies, including AI (artificial intelligence),” Trudeau told reporters.

Canada has a lot of the important minerals, like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, that are now used to make batteries for electric cars. The government is working to help producers and processors increase production.

“Canada, which makes more minerals than any other country in the world, and Korea, which makes a lot of semiconductors and batteries, are both important parts of the global supply chain,” Yoon said through an interpreter.

“The governments and businesses of our two countries will work together to build a cooperative architecture in the mineral resources sector,” Yoon said. “This is to deal with the shocks caused by the changing world order.”

China is by far the biggest supplier of important minerals used in EVs right now. Yoon said that it was important for both countries to find a different supplier from a strategic point of view.

Trudeau said that Canada and South Korea are already working together in this area.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they agreed to strengthen their “strategic partnership on supply chain resiliency” and try to position themselves as “competitive players in the critical minerals supply chain and the battery and EV value chains.”

In order to do this, both countries agreed to work together in the coming months to create a memorandum of understanding to “support the transition to clean energy and energy security, including in terms of critical minerals.”

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