OVERVIEW
The Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) is a forum for policy- and project-level cooperation between like-minded countries to advance diversified, resilient, and secure supply chains for unprocessed, processed, and recyclable critical minerals. It is not a treaty. Announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial in February 2026, which brought together representatives from 54 countries, FORGE succeeds the Biden Administration’s Minerals Security Partnership. As of July 2026, 17 countries and the European Union are members. Partners are expected to meet regularly and to operate on a consensus basis for decision-making.
- Lead U.S. Agency: Department of State, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs
- International Members: U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, U.K., the European Union
- How FORGE works: Members coordinate through two working groups. One identifies and co-finances priority projects; the other aligns members’ policies to diversify supply chains and lower investment risk.
- Relevance to Congress: The administration is executing FORGE using existing authorities. There have been bipartisan efforts in Congress to codify the program, notably the House-passed DOMINANCE Act. Appropriations for programs that might support FORGE are generally provided through the Senate Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs and the House Subcommittee for National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs. Oversight primarily sits with the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees.
Structure & Operations:
Public details on FORGE remain limited, but reports indicate the following engagement:
The Project Investment Working Group helps members identify and vet mining, processing, and recycling projects in trusted countries and coordinate potential financing for them. The group will also help connect their output with buyers, such as battery and defense manufacturers. The working group aims to establish a registry of high-priority, high-standard projects to improve information sharing and coordinate joint investment and co-financing. The group will also work with development finance institutions, export credit agencies, multilateral development banks, and private investors (e.g., industry, off-takers, banks, and private equity) to help finance and accelerate projects.
More broadly, FORGE states that its project standards will be designed to uphold high environmental, labor, and transparency standards, and responsible business practices.
The Policy Coordination Working Group coordinates member policies and international efforts to diversify critical mineral supply chains, reduce investment risks, improve transparency and traceability, and expand recycling and reprocessing. FORGE identifies several avenues members may use, including bilateral and multilateral agreements, trade and investment policies, public financing, and other government support. However, the specific policies and mechanisms have not yet been confirmed.
Supporting Program: This work is supported by MINVEST, a public-private partnership between the State Department and SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy. It builds private-sector capacity and connections in target countries through workshops, convenings, and ongoing matchmaking to support the FORGE project pipeline, along with that of other programs.
Remaining Questions:
- What are the next steps? Besides the July release of the Guiding Principles, there has been little public evidence of any further action following the ministerial. However, the U.S.-India bilateral critical minerals framework (and potentially others) states that it “builds on the groundwork” laid by FORGE’s ministerial meeting.
- What policies will be prioritized? Unknown, but FORGE’s investment focus points toward policies that encourage cross-border investment and lower financial risk for projects.
- How will “high environmental, labor, and transparency standards, and “responsible business practices” be measured or verified? No certification, metric, or enforcement mechanism has been specified.
- How will FORGE’s stated commitment to counter non-market practices be implemented? No specific mechanism (e.g., market stabilization tools, tariffs) has been named. More concrete progress has come through the separate Agreement on Trade in Critical Minerals (ATCM) track.
- How does FORGE fit with other U.S. critical minerals efforts? It is one of several recent initiatives and bilateral frameworks launched in the past year. Whether these efforts are coordinated, or overlapping, remains unclear.