April 10 (Reuters) – The European Union and Washington are closing in on an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The potential deal would include incentives such as minimum price guarantees that could favour non‑Chinese suppliers, the report said, citing an “action plan”.
The EU and U.S. would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, along with increased coordination on any supply disruptions by countries like China, the report added.
The European Commission declined to comment on the report. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said in March he had a “very positive” meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cameroon, where the two sides agreed to further advance work on critical minerals and also discussed tariffs.
The EU-U.S. deal would cover “critical minerals along the entire value chain and life-cycle management, including exploration, extraction, processing, refining, recycling and recovery,” Bloomberg reported, citing a non-binding memorandum of understanding.
The U.S. has been scrambling to get access to critical mineral reserves, especially rare earth supply chains currently dominated by Chinese players.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra and Kate Mayberry)
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