U.S., Japan, Australia and India target China over ‘supply chain disruption,’ agree on U.S.-led joint response

[Financial News] The Quad, a security grouping comprising the United States, Japan, Australia and India, has agreed to strengthen cooperation on critical-mineral supply chains, targeting China’s controls on rare-earth exports.
The foreign ministers of the four Quad countries met on the 31st (local time) in Atlanta, United States, on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) foreign ministers’ meeting and issued a joint statement on economic security.
In the statement, they said, “We express serious concern about non-market policies and practices that disrupt global supply chains in key industries through economic coercion via arbitrary export restrictions and overproduction.” Although the statement did not mention China directly, it is understood to have had China’s restrictions on rare-earth exports and overproduction in mind.
The four countries are currently pursuing projects to recover critical minerals from sources such as electronic waste and scrap metal, under a critical-minerals cooperation initiative announced in May. They plan to reduce their dependence on specific suppliers and encourage private investment in recycling, processing and refining facilities.
The United States has agreed to provide $10 million (about 13.3 billion won) to support, among other things, the construction of critical-mineral recovery facilities in India and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The four countries are also reportedly set to consider simplifying export and import procedures to facilitate the cross-border movement of recycled materials.
[email protected] Hong Chae-wan Reporter