The United States on the 4th (local time) launched a trade bloc to diversify the supply chain of critical minerals essential to defense and advanced industries.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said at a critical minerals ministerial meeting held at the State Department building in Washington, D.C., that "over the past year, many people have come to feel acutely how heavily our economy depends on critical minerals," and announced the formation of a "critical minerals trade bloc."
According to the U.S. State Department, delegations from 54 countries, including Korea, Australia, India and Japan, and officials from the European Union (EU) Executive Commission were invited to attend the meeting, along with Minister Cho Hyun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the participants, there were 43 foreign ministers and other cabinet-level officials.
Vice President Vance said, "Today's international market related to critical minerals is not functioning properly, and supply chains remain vulnerable and extremely concentrated," adding, "Let's make prices more predictable and reduce volatility." On the goals of the "critical minerals trade bloc," he said it is "to diversify the global supply chain of the critical minerals market."
The launch of this trade bloc is a move by the United States, which was hit by China's "rare earth export controls" during last year's U.S.-China tariff war, to avoid ceding leadership over critical minerals essential for national security and advanced technology development to China. The United States has also worked to diversify critical mineral supply chains to prepare for supply shocks from China.
Korea will serve as the chair country of the Forge Initiative through June. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "Thank you to Korea. Korea has played a leading role in the MSP, which filled the gap until the launch of the (critical minerals trade bloc)."
Participant countries in Forge will push an initiative to strengthen a diversified, resilient and stable critical mineral supply chain by cooperating on both policy and project fronts, based on the predecessor, the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP). Korea has served as the MSP chair country.