Australia, India, Japan and the United States have pledged to work together to strengthen and diversify global critical minerals supply chains, as the countries deepen their strategic economic coordination in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, announced following a meeting in Washington on Wednesday, will focus on supporting sustainable production and secure trade flows of minerals essential to clean energy, semiconductors and defence applications.
The initiative comes amid heightened concern over the concentration of mineral processing capabilities, and builds on earlier collaboration between the countries on infrastructure, innovation and technology standards.
Foreign minister Penny Wong joined US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign minister Iwaya Takeshi, and Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the meeting on Wednesday.
The ministers expressed deep concern about the “abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals” and stressed the “importance of diversified and reliable global supply chains”.
“Reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposes our industries to economic coercion, price manipulation, and supply chain disruptions, which further harms our economic and national security.”
While the joint statement did not explicitly name any one country, China widely understood as a reference to China’s dominance in mineral processing and recent trade restrictions. Around 85 per cent of Australia’s lithium, for instance, is refined in China.
Beyond critical minerals, the ministers also committed to advancing cooperation on maritime domain awareness, emerging technologies, climate resilience and cybersecurity.
The next Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be hosted by Australia in 2026.
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