The United States and the European Union on Friday published a coordinated action plan setting out steps to align trade policy and other measures affecting critical minerals supply chains. The document outlines a path toward concluding a binding plurilateral agreement at some future point, while stopping short of naming specific targets.
Although the plan does not explicitly reference any single country, it arrives amid a broader push by the Trump administration to work with Western partners to reduce reliance on certain dominant foreign processors of minerals that are central to advanced manufacturing.
Officials cited concerns that the processing concentration for a number of minerals has been used as a form of geo-economic leverage. They pointed to actions that have at times included curbs on exports, deliberate price suppression and tactics that have undercut other countries trying to diversify sources of materials. Those materials are used to produce semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was scheduled to meet later on Friday with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, said Washington and Brussels both committed to "addressing the non-market policies and practices that have distorted critical minerals supply chains."
Greer added that the two sides would consider trade tools such as border-adjusted price floors as one mechanism to shore up domestic critical minerals processing and downstream industries that are viewed as important to industrial competitiveness.
Context and immediate aims
The action plan lays out an intent to coordinate trade responses and other measures to strengthen resilience in minerals processing and related supply chains. The stated objective is to create a framework that could be converted into a binding plurilateral agreement in the future.
Who and what are affected
- Governments in the United States and European Union that set trade policy.
- Domestic critical minerals industries and downstream sectors tied to industrial competitiveness.
- Manufacturers of semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons that rely on processed minerals.
Next steps and meetings
The announcement coincides with a scheduled meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, where officials said they would discuss implementation and possible trade measures to be explored under the plan.
The plan signals a coordinated approach to address perceived market distortions and to examine specific trade tools, including border-adjusted price floors, as means of strengthening the industrial base for critical minerals and their downstream uses.