India’s support signals alignment with the evolving US critical minerals strategy. A quiet but significant announcement came shortly after a trade agreement between the United States and India. This agreement appears to further unite the two countries economically, with the United States stating an interest in partnering with India on developing the critical minerals and rare earths that are necessary for both defense systems and digital industries, as well as to support clean energy and semiconductor efforts.
Meanwhile, China continues to hold worldwide dominance in the mining and processing of both of these natural resources, which is increasingly concerning to both nations and industries around the world. Consequently, many countries are now pursuing collective solutions when it comes to supply chains. India has joined this effort and participated in a recent summit in Washington D.C., attended by India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, and representatives from over fifty (50) other countries. The discussions at this meeting were framed as purely economic resilience and not a form of confrontation; however, there was an unmistakable geopolitical undertone to every single aspect of the discussions.
Why Washington is pushing a US critical minerals strategy
The U.S. wants to have a secure and varied supply chain of minerals, and China dominates the mining and processing of many key minerals. This creates significant leverage for the CCP regarding political disputes with the U.S. The United States now wants to work with its allies in a coordinated fashion. During this year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance outlined a plan to attendees of meetings held in Washington, D.C., stating, “We want to eliminate that problem of people flooding into our markets with cheap critical minerals to undercut our domestic manufacturers.” Market price coordination will involve reference pricing and global tariff coordination. U.S. Officials expect that the establishment of price floors will lead to additional private investment.
The Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) stated that there were multiple participation levels with 55 countries. The attending group consists of several major global mining and refining nations that will work together to reduce their individual exposure to strategic risk. Markets reacted very negatively to this increase in government involvement within the production and distribution of critical minerals and uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of these actions to resolve these issues.
How India’s strategy fits the global realignment
The participation of India is consistent with the state-led industrial strategy (Make in India). Jaishankar stated that critical minerals are hugely strategic and that there is concern over concentration/dependence on global supply chains. India endorsed the cooperative initiative called FORGE (Foreign Ore Generating Equipment).
On a domestic level, India set up plans for a rare earths corridor. The government is focusing on coastal and eastern states with high levels of minerals. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been reinforcing this direction through the expansion of support for mining-based manufacturing ecosystem development. India also increased investment in the Semiconductor Mission framework. All of these actions are aimed at challenging China’s leading position in global technology manufacturing.
Meanwhile, the U.S. lowered tariffs under a new USA–India free trade agreement (FTA), further enhancing economic trust between the two nations. China has been very measured in its response to this new coalition of like-minded countries. As stated by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, “China has at all times had a significant and constructive role in maintaining the global industrial and supply chains for critical minerals, and China will continue to make proactive contributions in that regard.” At this time, both India and the U.S. are working together strategically. Together, India and Washington are positioning themselves at the core of the US critical minerals strategy.
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