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France’s efforts to gain greater control of crucial minerals are colliding with political reality. President
Emmanuel Macron has sought to put the remote territory of New
Caledonia—and its massive reserves of nickel—at the center of France’s
push to secure raw materials to compete against China in manufacturing
electric vehicles. The WSJ’s Matthew Dalton and Sam Schechner report the moves have invigorated an independence drive and led to rioting this month over a plan
one local protest leader said amounts to a “colonial pact to regain
control of New Caledonia’s resources.” Protestors object to a French
proposal to lift restrictions on exporting unprocessed nickel and give
priority to shipments to European
electric-vehicle battery factories. Opponents say that would undercut
local processors just as they are reeling from Chinese investment that
has transformed Indonesia into the world’s largest producer of nickel
and helped drive down prices. |