Critical mineral supply chain
US government proposes international trade bloc for critical minerals, signs 11 MoUs including with the UK and the UAE
Ministers from 54 countries around the world gathered in Washington, DC on February 4, 2026 for the Critical Minerals Ministerial, where US vice president JD Vance spoke about the "failing" international market for critical minerals and proposed the formation of a "preferential trade zone for critical minerals".
"We know that today the international market for critical minerals is failing. It’s failing to create domestic markets or dignified jobs for our labor forces, and it’s failing to keep our nations safe," Vance said in his opening remarks. "Supply chains remain brittle and exceptionally concentrated. Asset and commodity prices are persistently depressed, driven downward by forces beyond any individual country’s control."
Vance, on behalf of the Trump administration, officially proposed a "preferential trade zone for critical minerals, protected from external disruptions through enforceable price floors." He shared the administration's vision for a trading bloc that "guarantees American access to American industrial might, while also expanding production across the entire zone".
He explained that the bloc would establish reference prices for critical minerals at each stage of production that reflect "real-world, fair-market value", with these acting as a price floor that he said would be maintained through adjustable tariffs to "uphold pricing integrity".
The issue that the Trump administration says it is trying to eliminate with the formation of this preferential trade zone is foreign countries undercutting domestic markets with cheaper critical minerals and later jacking up prices to "a completely unfair level".
Figure 1: Countries represented at the Critical Minerals Ministerial
| Continent | Countries / Entities |
|---|---|
| Africa | Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Zambia |
| Asia | Armenia, Bahrain, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan |
| Europe | Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ukraine |
| North America | Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico |
| South America | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru |
| Oceania | Australia, Cook Islands, New Zealand |
Agreements made in Washington, DC
During the event, the US signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), framework agreement, or similar critical minerals cooperation agreement with 11 different countries: Argentina, the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Guinea, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
The UK Department for Business and Trade published details of the MoU signed by the governments of the UK and USA for the "securing of supply in the mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earths" on February 5, acknowledging that critical minerals are essential for the production of advanced technologies.
As part of the agreement, both nations have committed to: intensifying cooperative efforts to accelerate the secure supply of critical minerals and rare earth; investing in mining and processing through mobilising government support where appropriate and incentivising private sector investment; streamlining permitting timelines and processes; securing relevant industries from non-market policies and unfair trade practices; and collaborating with other international partners to ensure supply chain security.
China's critical mineral dominance
According to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 'Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025', China is currently the dominant refiner globally for 19 of the 20 top energy-related minerals.
While neither Vance or US secretary of state Marco Rubio mentioned China in their opening remarks at the Critical Minerals Ministerial, Rubio did refer to a need to create "alternative" sources of supply and to protect every single stage of production from "non-market disruption".
Data from the US Geological Survey's 'Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025' by the US Department of the Interior showed that in 2024, the US was 100% reliant on imports for consumption of 15 mineral commodities, with China a leading import source for 10 of these commodities.
Of the total 64 mineral commodities identified in the report, China was listed as a key import source for 27 in 2024.
Last year, critical minerals and rare earths were a key topic of discussion between the leaders of China and the US. In April 2025, China introduced export controls on seven rare earth elements, adding five more elements to this list in October.
So when US president met Donald Trump met with China’s president Xi Jinping in South Korea at the end of October last year, one of the biggest developments to come out of that meeting was the announcement of a one-year suspension on these export controls.
In return, the US halved its fentanyl-related tariff on imports from China, from the escalated 20% back to the original 10% rate.
