Mining of minerals. Collage: Ion Mateș / Hotnews. Photo: Dreamstime, Shutterstock
The United States, the European Union and Japan announced on Wednesday that they are forming a strategic partnership aimed at improving the supply of critical minerals, essential in sectors such as automotive construction, defense and digital, reports France Presse and Agerpres.
It is for the countries involved in “significantly improving their economic and national security, together strengthening the resilience of their critical mineral supply channels,” according to a statement released at the end of a ministerial meeting on the subject in Washington.
“By developing this action plan, we want to lay the groundwork for a binding multilateral agreement on critical minerals with ideologically close countries,” White House trade representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement to the media.
Washington then announced a similar action plan with Mexico, which provides relatively the same instruments as the one signed with Brussels and Tokyo.
The memorandum of understanding between the US, the EU and Japan aims to “identify areas of cooperation to stimulate demand and diversify supply” for the signatories, the statement said.
In essence, it is about being less dependent on China, which largely controls the supply chain of critical minerals essential in many strategic sectors, notes AFP.
Beijing has used this position as leverage for negotiation or coercion against its economic partners.
Among the avenues explored by the memorandum of understanding is support for new mining, refining, manufacturing and recycling projects, particularly by introducing minimum prices or subsidies.
It also calls for accelerating research and development in these areas and “strengthening the exchange of information on available stocks” on both sides.
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