- India and the US signed a framework on critical minerals and rare earths supply chains
- The agreement aims to reduce reliance on China for key defence and clean energy materials
- The deal enables joint ventures, co-investment, and coordinated export strategies
India and the United States signed a sweeping framework agreement on Tuesday on critical minerals and rare earths, capping a four-day visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to New Delhi with a deal that both governments are framing as a direct counter to China's dominant grip on global supply chains for materials essential to modern defence, technology, and clean energy industries.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Secretary Rubio signed the "Framework on Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths" in New Delhi, formalising a partnership that spans the entire supply chain -- from mine to processing plant to recycling facility -- and opens the door to joint financing and investment arrangements.
The agreement arrives at a moment of acute global anxiety over critical mineral supply chains. China controls the processing of a large share of the world's rare earth elements, materials indispensable for semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, fighter jet components, and advanced telecommunications equipment. Both Washington and New Delhi have been urgently seeking to develop alternative supply networks, and Monday's framework puts their bilateral partnership at the center of that effort.
"This is not a peripheral trade arrangement," said a senior Indian government official familiar with the negotiations. "It is a strategic realignment of where these materials come from, who processes them, and who benefits."
The framework traces its origins to the PM Modi-Trump summit in Washington in February 2025, where the two leaders identified secure critical mineral supply chains as a shared strategic priority. Monday's signing converts that political commitment into an operational architecture, providing a legal and institutional basis for joint ventures, co-investment, and coordinated export strategies.
Rubio's visit -- his first to India as Secretary of State -- covered considerably more ground than minerals alone. Talks ranged across defence cooperation, trade negotiations, and regional security, with bilateral tensions over tariffs simmering in the background. But the minerals framework emerged as the signature deliverable of the trip, offering both sides a concrete win to take home.
The deal also slots into a broader web of overlapping initiatives the two countries have been building since early 2026. In February, India became a signatory to the US-led Pax Silica initiative, a multilateral effort to secure silicon and related mineral supply chains. That same month, Jaishankar attended a foreign ministers' meeting on critical minerals convened by Rubio in Washington. The two nations are also active partners under the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, known as FORGE.
India brings substantial assets to the table. The country holds significant deposits of minerals, including lithium, cobalt, and titanium, and has been aggressively courting foreign investment to develop domestic processing capacity -- currently its weakest link. The United States, meanwhile, brings financing mechanisms, technology, and market access.
Industry analysts noted that translating the framework into on-the-ground mining and processing operations will require sustained follow-through from both governments, including navigating India's historically complex environmental clearance processes.
Still, the optics of Rubio departing New Delhi with a signed agreement in hand underlined the momentum in a bilateral relationship that, despite occasional friction, continues to deepen as both countries look to shape a post-China-dependent global supply order.
