Japan, U.S. Eye Multilateral Trade Pact on Critical Minerals

Washington, March 19 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese and U.S. governments Thursday announced an action plan for a proposed multilateral trade agreement to ensure stable supplies of critical minerals. The two sides also signed a memorandum of cooperation on rare earth development in waters around Minamitorishima, a Japanese remote island in the Pacific. In addition, they announced projects worth up to 73 billion dollars, including the construction of small nuclear power plants, as the second batch of investments and loans Japan promised to implement in the United States under a bilateral tariff deal. The two governments expressed their intention to support 13 projects involving Japanese and U.S. companies, including Mitsubishi Materials Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., to strengthen supply chains of critical minerals. At a meeting in Washington on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to oppose measures, such as export controls, that threaten the stable supplies of important minerals, apparently with China in mind. To counter China, which sells rare earths at low prices, the two sides hope to advance discussions to establish a trade bloc in which participating countries set the lowest prices for such minerals for stable procurement. The two leaders also agreed to set up a Japan-U.S. working group to accelerate the commercialization of rare earth development in waters near Minamitorishima. The second batch of Japanese investments and loans in the United States includes a project under which GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a joint venture between U.S. energy company GE Vernova Inc. and Japan’s Hitachi Ltd., will build small modular reactors in the southern state of Tennessee and elsewhere. Another project is the construction of natural gas-fired power generation facilities including in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. Together with the first tranche decided last month, the combined amount of projects has increased to about 20 pct of the total of 550 billion dollars promised by Japan under the tariff deal. As Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. and Israeli military attacks continues, the two leaders agreed to cooperate to increase U.S. energy production, focusing on supplies to Japan and other Asian countries. Regarding fresh U.S. tariff measures, Takaichi called for the steady implementation of the Japan-U.S. deal. The Japanese government has requested that the tariff rates not be less favorable than the agreed level. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]