US and Japan Agree on Critical Minerals Joint Action Plan
On 19 March 2026, USTR Jamieson Greer announced the United States of America (USA) and Japan had agreed on a Joint Action Plan for #CriticalMinerals. According to the Action Plan, the two countries will cooperate to mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities.
Already in October 2025, the two sides released the US-Japan Framework for Securing the Supply of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths through Mining and Processing. Reflecting the desire of both sides to deepen cooperation in this realm, a Joint Action Plan has been prepared.
“The United States and Japan are taking an important step to expand the production and diversity of critical minerals, laying the foundation for a binding plurilateral agreement supported by price floors and other measures. Today’s announcement reinforces our supply chain resilience and energy security with a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region. I thank my Japanese counterparts for their commitment to deepening coordination on critical minerals to further strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance.”
USTR Jamieson Greer
The Action Plan calls for:
- Coordinate trade policies and mechanisms, such as border-adjusted price floors, for importing critical minerals
- Cooperate on maintaining and strengthening midstream and downstream activities
- Partner to identify and support the mining, refining, and manufacturing projects
- Partner in investment promotion and screening
- Coordinate trade policies, regulatory frameworks, and technical standards
- Join forces in Research and Development
- Combine resources for a strategic stockpile
- Team up to address economic coercion
- Develop joint approaches to respond to disruptions and crises
The Action Plan will be jointly owned and driven by the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Ministry of Finance (MoF).