UK–US Memorandum of Understanding on Critical Minerals

Mechanism

Foreign Office Minister Seema Malhotra signed the MOU with US Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg at the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC on 4 February 2026, which gathered representatives from over 50 countries. The instrument was executed jointly by the UK's FCDO and DBT — reflecting both the diplomatic (supply-chain security) and commercial (investment mobilisation) dimensions.

The MOU is non-binding and does not create legal obligations under domestic or international law. Its operative commitments are:

1. Intensified cooperation to accelerate secure supply of critical minerals and rare earths for defence and advanced-technology manufacturing in both countries. 2. Government financial tool mobilisation — guarantees, loans, equity investments, finalisation of private-sector offtake arrangements, insurance, and regulatory facilitation where appropriate. 3. Mineral resource mapping — both Participants commit to cooperate in mapping mineral resources in the UK, the US, and jointly determined third locations to support diversified supply chains. 4. Permitting streamlining — coordinated acceleration of permitting timelines for mining, separation, and processing within each country's domestic regulatory system. 5. Price-floor cooperation — announced jointly on the evening of 3 February 2026, the UK and US (alongside the EU, Japan, and Mexico) committed to cooperate in developing reference prices for critical minerals at each stage of production reflecting fair-market value, to be maintained through adjustable tariffs where necessary. This makes the UK–US MOU the first bilateral instrument on the IPTM register to incorporate a price-floor cooperation commitment.

The UK's £50 million DBT commitment (following the 2025 Spending Review) is the principal quantitative anchor on the UK side. The US side leverages the FORGE architecture (also launched at the 4 February Ministerial) and Project Vault mechanisms as the demand-pull / financing backbone.

Downstream implications

• First UK–US critical-minerals bilateral instrument on the register; completes the transatlantic advanced-economy arm of the 2026 FORGE cohort (alongside UAE, Cook Islands, Peru, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Guinea, Morocco — eight bilateral instruments total from the 4 February Ministerial).
• Price-floor cooperation language is structurally novel: distinct from the US Defence Production Act / Section 232 / EXIM Project Vault instruments and from pure-bilateral offtake facilitation. If operationalised into a plurilateral agreement (USTR public comment process launched simultaneously), it would establish a managed-price floor for critical mineral exports — a significant counter to Chinese spodumene and lithium overproduction.
• The £50m DBT envelope covers R&D, innovation, and commercialisation support for UK domestic critical mineral production and processing — reinforcing the Vision 2035 strategy commitment to reduce import dependence.
• UK involvement in the FORGE diplomatic architecture (post-Brexit, under the US-UK Atlanticist reset) establishes a direct UK channel into the US-led plurilateral trade-agreement process for critical minerals, ahead of potential formal bilateral trade agreement negotiations.

Open questions

• Will the price-floor cooperation be formalised into a binding plurilateral instrument (USTR process underway)?
• How will the £50m DBT fund be deployed — open grant competition or directed to specific UK projects (e.g. Cornwall Lithium, British Lithium)?
• Does FCDO involvement signal future UK Export Finance (UKEF) / British International Investment (BII) co-financing with DFC on third-country mineral projects?