The United States and the European Union announced stepped-up coordination on critical minerals on Friday, formalizing commitments intended to strengthen supply-chain resilience for materials central to advanced manufacturing. A memorandum of understanding on producing and securing critical minerals was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, and a separate trade action plan was unveiled.
In remarks around the signing, Secretary Rubio did not name any country specifically, but said the preliminary pact with Brussels reflected a growing recognition among Western partners of the importance of supply chains and critical minerals to their economic success. "The over-concentration of these resources, the fact that theyre dominated by one or two places, is an unacceptable risk. We need diversity in our supply chains," Rubio said before signing the memorandum.
The agreements come amid concern that concentrated control over mineral processing can be used as geo-economic leverage. The officials stated that such control has in the past included curbs on exports, price suppression and actions that undercut other countries abilities to diversify sources of inputs used in semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.
Maros Sefcovic described the memorandum as a potential catalyst for broader action. He told reporters he hoped the agreement would jumpstart a wider push and said he expected that some initial pilot projects to test a price floor mechanism might begin before the end of the year. "The direction is clear," he said. "Critical minerals ... are the core of every industry shaping the future."
Alongside the memorandum, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who also met with Sefcovic on Friday, announced a separate action plan aimed at coordinating trade policy on critical minerals. The plan is intended to address what officials described as "non-market policies and practices that have distorted critical minerals supply chains."
Greer said Washington and Brussels will examine trade measures that could strengthen domestic critical minerals industries and downstream sectors important for industrial competitiveness. Among the tools they will explore are border-adjusted price floors and other coordinated trade policies tied to reference prices.
The U.S.-EU action plan noted the imperative of addressing "pervasive non-market policies and practices (that) have left critical minerals supply chains of market-oriented economies vulnerable to a myriad of disruptions, including economic coercion." The plan set a longer-range objective of developing a plurilateral initiative with like-minded partners on trade in critical minerals that could enhance supply-chain resilience.
Officials listed a range of possible measures and mechanisms to be discussed. These include coordinated trade policies and mechanisms based on reference prices, such as border-adjusted price floors; standards-based markets; price gap subsidies; and offtake agreements. The work will focus on mutually agreed select critical minerals and their related supply chains.
The two sides also agreed to evaluate additional measures including standards for mining, processing, recycling or trade in critical minerals, technical and regulatory cooperation, investment promotion and screening cooperation, and coordinated rapid responses to prevent disruptions and crises. Stockpiling cooperation was identified as another potential measure to be examined.
Officials noted that an intent to develop an action plan was first signaled in February, in the context of U.S. Vice President JD Vances unveiling of plans to create a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals with potential coordinated price floors. The announcement also referenced the fact that Washington has already signed similar action plans with Japan and Mexico.
Execution and next steps
Both Rubio and Sefcovic emphasized that signing agreements is only the first stage, and that the real test will be translating the accords into concrete projects. Sefcovic stressed the need to move from agreements to tangible initiatives that deliver for business operators, noting that faster work on joint goals would strengthen the transatlantic relationship.
Greer said the planned coordination of trade measures is intended to fortify domestic industries and downstream sectors that rely on critical minerals, suggesting that a combination of policy tools will be assessed as part of the effort to reduce vulnerability to disruptions and economic coercion.