The United States and European Union have released an action plan to coordinate trade policies and measures on critical minerals supply chains, with a view to concluding a binding plurilateral agreement at a future date, reported Reuters.
The plan does not specifically mention China, noted the news agency, but comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to work with Western allies to loosen China’s grip on the mining and processing of critical minerals.
China has used its dominance in processing as geo-economic leverage, at times restricting exports, suppressing prices, and hindering other countries’ efforts to diversify supplies of the materials needed for semiconductors, electric vehicles, and advanced weapons.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. and EU shared a commitment to “addressing the non-market policies and practices that have distorted critical minerals supply chains.”
Greer said Washington and Brussels would explore how trade measures, such as border-adjusted price floors, could strengthen domestic critical minerals industries and downstream sectors critical to industrial competitiveness.
Source: Reuters