US seeks trading bloc to counter China grip on critical minerals, Vance says

The Trump administration is pushing to form a trading bloc with allied countries to set price floors and coordinate financing on critical minerals to counter China‘s grip on the market, Vice President JD Vance said.

The arrangement would help guard against China using its dominance of the supply chain as leverage, Vance said on Wednesday at the State Department’s Critical Mineral Ministerial, which brought together over 50 countries to discuss diversifying the critical mineral supply chain.

“Every single one of us represented in this room has become dependent on arrangements we did not choose, and right now, arrangements that we cannot control,” Vance said in opening remarks at the conference.

Vance said the goal of the conference was to “align trade policy, development, finance, and diplomatic