The European Union and the United States have formalised a strategic partnership on critical minerals, signing a Memorandum of Understanding and agreeing a joint Critical Minerals Action Plan in Washington DC that commits both sides to coordinated action across the full mineral value chain — from exploration and extraction through processing, refining, recycling and recovery.
The MoU was signed by EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while the accompanying Action Plan was set out by Šefčovič and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Together, the two instruments formalise a partnership that traces its origins to commitments made at a Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting held in Washington on 4 February 2026, alongside Japan, and to a joint EU-US statement issued in August 2025.
The MoU covers bilateral cooperation across the entire supply chain and encompasses support for innovation, investment and geological mapping, as well as both supply-side and demand-side measures. The Action Plan goes further, setting out a framework for exploring a broad range of trade policy instruments designed to reinforce coordinated international action. These include border-adjusted price floors — a mechanism that has been under active discussion among allied governments as a tool to protect non-Chinese producers from market distortion — alongside standards-based markets, price gap subsidies and offtake agreements.
Cooperation under the Action Plan is also expected to extend to the development of common standards for mining, processing and recycling; joint research and innovation programmes; stockpiling strategies; and mechanisms for rapid response to supply disruptions. Both sides intend to advance the critical minerals agenda through relevant international forums including the G7 and the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, known as FORGE, with the Action Plan explicitly paving the way toward a possible plurilateral trade initiative with a wider group of like-minded partners.
The agreement reflects the convergence of European and American concerns about the fragility of critical mineral supply chains and the dominant position China holds across multiple points of the value chain — from mining through processing and refining — for minerals essential to the energy transition, advanced manufacturing and defence.
