Trump officials have begun the complex job of figuring out the nuts and bolts of a minerals trading bloc with U.S. allies, a crucial step for the Trump White House’s efforts to counter Beijing’s dominant market position.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has begun taking public comment around the design of a multinational framework among “like-minded countries” to shore up minerals used in cars, cellphones, and military equipment like missiles and satellites. The agency will take input through March 19.
“The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to negotiate an Agreement on Trade in Critical Minerals with like-minded trading partners,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “We welcome comments from interested parties to help develop strategic trade policy and border mechanisms, such as price floors and tariffs, to build a resilient and non-distorted marketplace among aligned trading partners.”
Vice President JD Vance last month made a full-throated pitch to 54 countries and the European Union to join a U.S.-led trading bloc for critical minerals. Vance at the time said the administration was pushing to create a “concrete mechanism to return the global critical minerals market to a healthier, more competitive state” through a “preferential trade zone for critical minerals protected from external disruptions through enforceable price floors.”
