The United States and Japan signed an agreement on Tuesday for “securing” supplies of critical minerals and rare earths, the White House said, as President Donald Trump visited Tokyo.
The deal comes as the United States tries to boost access to critical minerals with China tightening controls on rare earths.
The two sides also agreed to increase cooperation in shipbuilding, and said a number of Japanese investment projects in energy, AI and other sectors are being considered, although there were few details.
The objective of the rare earths deal is “to assist both countries in achieving resilience and security of critical minerals and rare earths supply chains”, the statement said.
It said the United States and Japan would “jointly identify projects of interest to address gaps in supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths, including derivative products such as permanent magnets, batteries, catalysts, and optical materials”.
The two countries “intend to mobilise government and private sector support,” the statement added.
Beijing announced this month sweeping restrictions on the rare earths industry, prompting Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.
Earlier on his tour of Asia, Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim signed a trade agreement, boosting US access to critical minerals.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who was accompanying Trump, meanwhile signed a memorandum of cooperation on shipbuilding with Japan’s transport minister, Yasushi Kaneko.
According to the text inked Tuesday, Japan and the United States will establish a joint “working group” focusing on expanding their shipbuilding capacity, exchanging best practices and strategic investments to modernise shipyards.
China dominates the global shipbuilding industry, which has been in steady decline in the United States — but Trump has promised a revival of the sector.
“We used to be number one at making ships, and then we lost our way,” Trump said Tuesday.
“We’re going to be working also with Japan on making ships. We’re going to make a lot of ships again.”
– Investment projects –
In exchange for a trade agreement reached in July, which reduced the tariffs imposed on Japan, the United States is demanding $550 billion in Japanese investments, although the exact terms are still under discussion.
The two sides said several investment projects in the United States or with US firms were on the table.
The projects include a strong emphasis on energy, with investments of up to $100 billion for the construction of nuclear reactors by the American company Westinghouse, and a similar amount for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) by US firm GE Vernova.
Projects aimed at “strengthening AI infrastructure” are also mentioned in a document shared by Tokyo, involving Japanese companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric.
There are also several investment projects involving factories for processing critical minerals.
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© Agence France-Presse
