This week, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Greer announced A U.S.-Mexico Action Plan on Critical Minerals, which aims to address joint critical mineral supply chain vulnerabilities through coordinated trade policies.In his announcement, Ambassador Greer noted that, “As we approach the USMCA Joint Review, this Action Plan is an important step to strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase supply chain resilience with like-minded partners.”
The Council welcomes the continued alignment between Ambassador Greer and our own recommendations to strengthen critical mineral supply chain resilience through the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) joint review. We deeply appreciated his testimony to Congress citing our work and are grateful to see that the action plan fully aligns with our recommendations.
The 60-day action plan aims to:
- Expand North American Mineral Capacity by identifying priority critical mineral projects of mutual interest for supply chain collaboration.
- Enhance North American Competitiveness by coordinating trade policies, such as exploring border-adjusted price floors for critical minerals imports.
- Incorporate Additional International Partners by consulting on how price floors and other provisions may be incorporated into a plurilateral agreement. A similar agreement was penned with Japan and the EU at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial, attended by representatives from over 50 nations.
Additionally, the action plan calls for exploring other options provided in our comments, including trade measures to support a minerals market, collaboration on technical and regulatory issues, and coordination on mapping, stockpiles, standards, and R&D for new critical-mineral technologies.
The Council looks forward to working with industry partners and policymakers as these international efforts continue. Important next steps include highlighting the most vulnerable critical minerals needed for advanced energy technologies; identifying how those supply chains can be made more resilient through durable agreements with like-minded countries, including Mexico; and identifying the specific trade tools that can be incorporated into these agreements.
These agreements are vital to strengthening supply chain resilience, enhancing U.S. competitiveness, and driving economic growth, all while enabling U.S. manufacturing leadership in the next generation of advanced energy technologies.