U.S., Japan, Europe to Develop Critical Minerals Supply Action Plan

Washington, Feb. 4 (Jiji Press)–The United States said Wednesday that it will work with Japan and European countries to develop an action plan to secure the supply of critical minerals. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will seek to establish a trade bloc with allies and other friendly nations to stabilize critical minerals procurement, amid concerns that Chinese export curbs on rare earths could disrupt supplies. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement Wednesday that the United States, the European Union and Japan intend to develop an action plan and “explore a plurilateral trade initiative with like-minded partners on trade in critical minerals.” Under the initiative, the countries will explore areas of cooperation to promote the diversification of procurement sources. The statement also said that Washington will conclude with the EU within 30 days a memorandum of understanding aimed at boosting critical minerals supply chain security. The Trump administration has proposed establishing a trade bloc with price floors reflecting appropriate market values to ensure stable procurement of critical minerals. The move comes as China supplies large quantities of critical minerals at low cost on the back of government subsidies. The framework aims to ease the impact of Chinese export curbs by enabling countries to secure reliable suppliers. Also on Wednesday, the U.S. government held a ministerial meeting of 55 countries, including Japan and EU member states, on bolstering critical minerals supply chains. “We want to eliminate that problem of people flooding into our markets with cheap critical minerals to undercut our domestic manufacturers,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance said at the meeting. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for strengthening economic security by ending reliance on China, saying that dependence on the Asian country for critical minerals supply could be used by Beijing as “a tool of leverage in geopolitics.” Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Iwao Horii told the meeting that his country intends to promote multilateral cooperation, saying, “We have come to understand that we are in the same boat, as any supply chain disruption would bring significant impact on the global economy.” The U.S. government plans to invest approximately 12 billion dollars to begin stockpiling critical minerals for the private sector to ensure stable procurement. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]