PH, US ink critical minerals agreement

THE Philippines and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop the domestic critical minerals and rare earths sector, a development the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said could make the county a global processing hub.The MOU was signed by Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla and US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg on Wednesday at the sidelines of the 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by the US State Department, which brought together ministers and senior officials from 54 countries and the European Commission.Critical minerals and rare earths are important inputs in the production of electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, electronics and advanced manufacturing, and the US has been looking to form a trading bloc to counter China’s dominance of the sector.“[T]he MOU aims to advance Philippine economic policy away from the export of raw mineral ores toward increased domestic processing and value addition, supporting the country’s integration into global supply chains,” the DENR said in a statement on Friday.Lotilla was quoted as saying that via the partnership, “we are building a Filipino-led industry that processes our own resources, creates high-skilled jobs and strengthens our position in the global high-tech supply chain.”“We will be able to keep more of the economic benefits of mining within the country,” he added.With the signing of the MOU, the Philippines joined other countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Asean neighbors Malaysia and Thailand as partners of the US in securing reliable and diversified mineral supply chains.“By advancing critical minerals processing at home, the Philippines takes a significant step toward building a resilient, innovation-driven economy and securing its place in the future of global industry,” Lotilla said.“More importantly, this step forms part of our overall commitment to responsible mining by upholding environmental standards and protecting the well-being of local communities,” he added.During the ministerial meeting, US Vice President JD Vance unveiled plans to marshal allies into a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals, proposing coordinated price floors as Washington escalates efforts to loosen China’s grip on materials crucial to advanced manufacturing.China has wielded its chokehold on the processing of many minerals as geo-economic leverage, at times curbing exports, suppressing prices and undercutting other countries’ ability to diversify sources of the materials used to make semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.“We want to eliminate that problem of people flooding into our markets with cheap critical minerals to undercut our domestic manufacturers,” Vance told a gathering of visiting ministers in Washington without mentioning China.“We will establish reference prices for critical minerals at each stage of production ... and for members of the preferential zone, these reference prices will operate as a floor maintained through adjustable tariffs to uphold pricing integrity,” Vance said.Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.China’s expanded export controls on rare earths last year caused production delays and shutdowns for auto manufacturers in Europe and the US, and a China-generated glut of lithium has stalled plans to expand production in the US.Such dependencies have unnerved Washington and its partners, which have struggled for years to implement policies to stand up durable domestic mining and processing alternatives for lithium, nickel, rare earths and other critical minerals.
2026-02-06 16:20:00