Quad Nations Agree to Cooperate on Building Critical Minerals Resilience

The Quad foreign ministers raised concerns over the risks of relying on a single country for processing and refining critical minerals.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stand together at the start of their meeting of the Indo-Pacific Quad at the State Department in Washington on July 1, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Foreign ministers from the Quad alliance agreed on July 1 to cooperate on securing and diversifying critical mineral supply chains amid efforts to tackle challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

The four-nation bloc—which includes the United States, Australia, Japan, and India—announced the launch of the “Quad Critical Minerals Initiative” following a meeting in Washington.