US and EU Formalise Critical Minerals Partnership Amid Supply Chain Security Push

Mintesinot Niggusie

The United States and the European Union have signed a new agreement to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals, aiming to secure supply chains for materials essential to advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles and defence technologies.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Marco Rubio and Maros Sefcovic, alongside a separate action plan to align trade policy measures on critical minerals between the two economies.

Officials said the partnership is designed to address risks linked to concentrated production and processing of key minerals used in semiconductors and industrial technologies, which have become increasingly central to global economic competition.

Rubio said the agreement reflects a growing recognition among allies of supply chain vulnerabilities, arguing that diversification is necessary to reduce exposure to external shocks.

“The over-concentration of these resources, the fact that they’re dominated by one or two places, is an unacceptable risk. We need diversity in our supply chains,” he said ahead of the signing.

The initiative comes as Western economies seek to strengthen access to materials where global processing capacity remains heavily concentrated, with policymakers increasingly focused on building alternative sourcing and refining networks.

Jamieson Greer announced a parallel framework under which Washington and Brussels will coordinate trade policies to address what they described as distortions in critical minerals supply chains, including discussions on trade tools such as border-adjusted price floors.

Greer said the measures are intended to reinforce domestic industrial capacity and support downstream manufacturing sectors tied to long-term competitiveness.

Sefcovic said the agreement would translate political commitments into operational cooperation, with early-stage pilot projects expected before the end of the year.