Friends of the Earth Europe and Latin America – Global Europe and the EU’s Raw Materials Initiative are designed to bolster the EU’s economic position – whatever the cost – in the face of fierce global competition for both markets and resources, especially from emerging economies such as China and India. The EU also fears losing trade to the US, which has already secured trade and investment concessions from countries in the Western hemisphere, through the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and other bilateral trade agreements.