The United States is developing plans with Mexico, the European Union and Japan to implement minimum prices for critical minerals, the U.S. trade representative said Wednesday.
The Trump administration is exploring a partnership with Mexico on critical minerals as part of a scheduled review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, or USMCA, by July 1.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the potential partnership would “address global market distortions that have left North American critical minerals supply chains vulnerable to disruptions.”
Greer described Wednesday’s announcement with Mexico as an “action plan” to be implemented over the next 60 days.
The U.S. and Mexico will explore ways to implement price floors for critical mineral imports, and will discuss how to implement those minimum prices in agreements with other nations, an official in the trade representative’s office said.
EU, Japan
Separately, the U.S. is working with the EU and Japan to develop a strategic partnership on critical minerals that could also include price floors. The U.S. and the EU plan a memorandum of understanding on critical mineral supply chain security in the next 30 days.
Greer said cooperation with the EU and Japan signals “that the world’s largest market-oriented economies are committed to developing a new paradigm for preferential trade in critical minerals.”
The U.S. and the 27-nation EU will also discuss sharing information on stockpiling critical minerals and look for ways to cooperate on mining, refining and processing.
The action plan with Mexico aims to implement coordinated stockpiling of critical minerals and common regulations for their mining, processing and trade. The plan also foresees coordination on investment, geological mapping and rapid responses to supply chain disruptions.
The U.S. and Mexico plan to initially focus on a select group of critical minerals, with the exact elements to be decided at a later date.
Policy center
The Trump administration has put critical minerals at the center of its trade and industrial policies in an effort to reduce dependence on China. Beijing dominates the global supply chain and tried to cut off exports of rare earths, a subset of the minerals that are used in everything from munitions to consumer electronics, during trade disputes with the U.S. last year.
The administration launched a national critical mineral stockpile on Monday. It has also taken equity stakes in critical mineral companies including MP Materials, USA Rare Earth and Canada’s Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals.
The Pentagon struck a landmark deal with MP Materials last July that included a price floor and offtake agreement in addition to an equity position. The Commerce Department announced plans last week to provide USA Rare Earth with financing in exchange for an equity holding, subject to certain conditions.