US hosts countries for talks to weaken China’s grip on critical minerals
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A sample of bastnaesite ore, a mineral used in the rare earth industry to extract elements such as cerium, lanthanum and neodymium, on display at the Geological Museum of China.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The US will host more than 50 countries on Feb 4 for talks aimed at boosting their access to critical minerals, in a bid to loosen China’s grip over vital industrial inputs that has allowed it to control global supply chains.
The gathering comes after US President Donald Trump on Feb 2 launched a strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault
China has wielded its chokehold on the processing of many minerals as geo-economic leverage, at times curbing exports and suppressing prices and undercutting other countries’ ability to diversify sources of the materials used to make semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.
South Korea, India, Thailand, Japan, Germany, Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among countries attending the Washington meeting, though the US has not released a full list.
Beijing’s expanded export controls on rare earths in 2025 caused production delays and shutdowns for car manufacturers in Europe and the US, and a China-generated glut of lithium has stalled plans to expand production in the US.
Such dependencies have unnerved Washington and its partners, which nonetheless have struggled for years to implement policies to stand up durable domestic mining and processing alternatives for lithium, nickel, rare earths and other critical minerals.
China’s leverage was on full display in October when Mr Trump agreed to trim tariffs on the country in exchange for Beijing’s pledge to hold off on stricter restrictions on rare earths exports.
The talks underscore a broader US push to work with partners to counter China’s dominance over critical minerals by coordinating policy tools at a time when Mr Trump has angered allies with his sweeping “America First” tariff policies.
Washington and its partners are weighing measures that include aligning trade and investment incentives, encouraging new mining and processing capacity outside China, and exploring market interventions such as price floors, strategic stockpiles and export restrictions to reduce Beijing’s leverage over supply chains vital to advanced manufacturing and national security.
“I think this is a recognition by the United States that it must act in concert with others to reduce its vulnerability in areas where China has supply dominance,” said Dr Scott Kennedy, who leads the Chinese business and economics programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Incentives
US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said on Feb 2 that 11 more countries would be named to a critical minerals trade club this week, joining the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. He said 20 more countries showed “strong interest” in joining the coalition.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice-President J.D. Vance will deliver remarks at the meeting of ministers from across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, which, according to the State Department, aims to “advance collective efforts to strengthen and diversify critical minerals supply chains”.
“China has long played an important and constructive role in keeping the global industrial and supply chains of critical minerals safe and stable and is willing to continue to make active efforts in this regard,” the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Reuters when asked about the meeting.
Industry experts say countries must find the right balance of incentives to boost investment in critical minerals production.
Those could include deploying newly created Section 232 tariffs in coordination with allies to establish industry-wide price floors for specific materials.
The Trump administration in 2025 struck a price-floor agreement with rare earths producer MP Materials, but Reuters has reported the administration may now be moving away from company-specific deals in favour of a broader, international approach.
Washington’s Group of Seven partners and the European Union have considered price floors to promote rare earth production, as well as taxes on some Chinese exports to incentivise investment.
Australia, which has been positioning itself as a critical minerals alternative to China, has also said it would establish a strategic reserve of minerals, expected to be ready by the second half of 2026.
Canberra is also considering setting a price floor to support local critical minerals projects.
“The reality is that none of us have tested these tools in this context. So, we’re looking to see which will be most effective. Most likely it will be a bit of a menu of tools... I don’t think there’s going to be a one silver bullet,” one meeting participant told Reuters on condition of anonymity. REUTERS
