India and the US on Tuesday signed a framework to mine and refine critical minerals and rare earths, even as the Quad—an alliance of the US, Japan, Australia, and India—decided to support the development of critical mineral supply chains.
The development follows last year’s disruption of global supply chains after China blocked exports of rare earth magnets in April 2025. The India-US framework aims to secure mining, processing, and scrapping of critical minerals and rare earths.
The framework will also promote collaboration in financing and processing of critical minerals and rare earth scrap. Meanwhile, the Quad, through its critical minerals initiative announced in July 2025, aims to mobilize investments worth $20 billion in government and private sector support to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, the external affairs ministry said.
This will be done through identifying projects for investment, joint measures to curb unfair trade practices, and working together to recover critical minerals from scrap.
Strategic experts said the new India-US framework could assist in critical mineral security for the world’s most populous country and the world’s largest economy.
“For both countries, critical minerals, and the Chinese domination and weaponization of these minerals is a challenge. It makes sense for India and the US to work together wherever possible: extraction, processing and even utilization,” said Harsh Pant, vice president of New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation.
Some domain experts also said the India-US critical minerals framework builds on earlier agreements. “This initiative builds on the Mineral Security Partnership. The real challenge lies in operationalizing the critical minerals partnership and securing the supply chains in a rapidly evolving world,” said Sankalp Gurjar, professor of geopolitics at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.
The Mineral Security Partnership is a US-led coalition of 14 nations and the EU to bolster critical mineral supply chains globally by roping in public and private sector investments. This 2022 coalition, which India joined in 2023, focuses on diversifying sources of critical minerals.
The new framework signed on Tuesday advances the vision put forth by both heads of state during Modi’s .
The move could help in technological assistance, too, according to some sector experts. “For our energy transition goals and 2047 target to become a developed nation, critical minerals will play a key role. They are required across key sectors. Associating with countries like the US will help India source these minerals and also become independent in terms of technologies and domestic availability,” said M. Prasanna Kumar, chairman and managing director of NLC India Ltd, a state-run mining major.
Critical mineral security assumes significance amid geopolitical uncertainties and trade wars as nations try to leverage their resources to disrupt supply chains. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its Sustainable Development Goals Pulse July 2025 report, noted that minerals required for the energy transition – copper, zinc, germanium, tin, and nickel, among others—faced higher export restrictions compared to other traded critical minerals.
The signing of the new critical minerals framework comes in the wake of China’s halt on the exports of rare earth magnets in April 2025. This ban on rare earth magnet exports resulted from an escalating trade war, with the world’s second-largest economy retaliating to steep US tariffs. Beijing’s dominance of the sector—60% of the world’s rare earth mining and 90% of the world’s processing capacity—disrupted supply chains, worrying manufacturers across the globe.
India, reeling from the supply cut in various sectors such as defence, electronics, renewable energy, and clean mobility, subsequently launched a ₹7,280 crore incentive scheme to set up 6,000 tonnes per annum capacity of making these magnets locally in the next seven years.
To supplement India’s domestic building blocks in this arena, scrapped critical minerals from batteries and other electronics are increasingly gaining traction. In December 2025, the parliamentary standing committee on coal, mines and steel recommended the promotion of ‘urban mines’—the recovery of critical minerals from scrap.
India was also a part of the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative announced in July 2025, a strategic alliance of the US, India, Australia, and Japan, aimed at breaking China’s grip on these minerals.
Earlier in February this year, India joined Pax Silica—a Washington-led strategic initiative aimed at securing the global silicon supply chain in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
Meanwhile, India itself has focused on building critical mineral capacity locally, with the setting up of a National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM) in 2025 with an outlay of ₹16,300 crore. The NCMM, which will remain in operation from FY25 to FY31, aims to build self-reliance in the critical minerals sector.
India relies significantly on imports for critical minerals, a joint study by industry lobby group Ficci and Deloitte in February 2026 said. “The imperative is clear that securing and processing critical minerals at scale will determine India’s manufacturing competitiveness and energy security.”
The critical minerals supply framework also comes at a time when India is in the process of a bilateral trade agreement with the US, after US president Donald Trump imposed harsh 50% tariffs against Indian exports. However, these ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs have since been struck down by the US Supreme Court in February this year.