The United States and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding for a critical minerals deal.
“Obviously, this shows the growing awareness and commitment throughout the world, particularly with our allies in the West and in Europe, the importance of supply chains in critical minerals to the success of our economies, and to our national security for that matter,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the MOU. “The over-concentration of these resources and the fact that they’re dominated by one or two places is an unacceptable risk. We need diversity in our supply chains, diversity in the places we get critical minerals. And this Memorandum of Understanding, which isn’t just going to be a piece of paper – it’s going to be brought to life through real action. These are going to be important for the economic vibrancy of all of our economies, the global economy really, but also to the security of our countries.”
European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said the agreement will strengthen the relationship between the countries.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has also put forward the United States-European Union Action Plan for Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resilience. “We will explore how trade measures, such as border-adjusted price floors, can strengthen our domestic critical minerals industries and the downstream sectors critical to our industrial competitiveness,” he said.
The understanding reached with the European Union comes as numerous countries have previously entered into agreements with the United States regarding critical minerals. Countries involved in deals include Argentina, the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Guinea, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan, the State Department said, noting that ten other critical mineral frameworks have been developed over the last five months.
The development comes as the United States government is mobilizing “unprecedented resources to secure critical mineral supply chains, supporting projects with more than $30 billion in letters of interest, investments, loans, and other support over the past six months in partnership with the private sector,” the State Department explained. The investments bolster the existing Pax Silica agreement.
