The Trump Administration proposes to establish minimum prices for global trade in critical minerals

The administration of President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a proposal aimed at reshaping global trade in critical minerals by setting minimum pricing standards, an initiative announced during an international summit with foreign representatives. Vice President JD Vance unveiled the approach at the Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by the State Department, describing it as a strategy aimed at nothing less than stabilizing markets and reducing vulnerability to external shocks. "This morning, the Trump administration is proposing a concrete mechanism to return the global critical minerals market to a healthier, more competitive state: a preferential trade zone for critical minerals protected from external disruptions through enforceable price floors," Vance said.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced plans to create a strategic minerals reserve aimed at supporting U.S. companies. That announcement followed a proclamation signed in January, in which Trump stated his intention to push for negotiations focused on establishing price floors for minerals and projects associated with their developmento.

Vance's remarks Wednesday expanded on that framework by detailing how the system would work in practice. Under the proposal, the United States would set reference prices for key minerals. "For members of the preferential zone, these reference prices will operate as a floor maintained through adjustable tariffs to uphold pricing integrity," explained Vance, who also stressed that participation in the proposed trade bloc would carry concrete benefits, presenting it as a model based on incentives rather than strict regulation. "for those of you who join, we offer you a necessary foundation for private financing and secure access to the critical mineral supplies your nation would require in an emergency," the vice president said.

More active foreign policy

While Vance also indicated that several countries have already agreed to be part of the plan, he did not detail which governments have committed.The proposal comes in the context of a more assertive foreign policy by the Trump Administration, which has recently shown a strong interest in securing access to strategic resources abroad, including mineral assets in Greenland and oil reserves in Venezuela.

Directly addressing that point, Vance noted that Venezuelan energy resources have been a key factor in Washington's approach to that country, whose dictator Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. authorities earlier this year, in an operation that will go down in the history not only of Venezuela, but also of the entire Western hemisphere. "One of the reasons why we’re interested in Venezuela is because it has such a critical importance in this all important resource called oil," Vance maintained.