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Secretary Rubio Signs a Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding with the European Union, Apr. 24, 2026

April 24, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:03:39

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the U.S.-EU Strategic Partnership on Critical Minerals with European Union Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič at the Department of State on April 24, 2026. Rubio said the signing showed a growing commitment among Western allies to critical-minerals supply chains: the over-concentration of those resources, “dominated by one or two places, is an unacceptable risk,” and supply chains need diversity of sources that are “reliable, affordable.” The MOU, he said, “isn’t just going to be a piece of paper — it’s going to be brought to life through real action,” operationalized with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce, and the combined United States and European Union are “the largest customers and users of the world” for these minerals.

Šefčovič said the MOU would make the two sides “even more strategic together,” that work with Ambassador Greer on an action plan would continue, and that “the real test will be the execution of this project” — turning the agreement into concrete, tangible projects for business operators. The department’s full-session feed of the ceremony is recorded in the index as an alternate source of this page.

Why it matters

The signing is the transatlantic instrument of the critical-minerals strategy Rubio opened at the February ministerial: diversification away from concentrated supply, framed jointly as economic vibrancy and national security, with the execution test stated on the record by both signatories.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the U.S.-EU Strategic Partnership on Critical Minerals memorandum of understanding, signed at the State Department on April 24, 2026. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio Participates in a Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony” (official upload, embedded above); transcript via state.gov as linked in the upload description. Remarks as delivered.