TARIFF TRACKER
USTR seeks comments on a critical minerals plurilateral trade agreement
USTR requests comments on trade policies and a possible legally binding plurilateral agreement for critical minerals supply chains. The notice does not impose duties now, but asks about minimum prices, border measures, import restrictions, and related enforcement tools.
Updated October 12, 2026
STATUS
Proposed
·
Other
COVERED GOODS
Critical minerals as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey, including mined, refined, and processed critical minerals, derivatives, downstream products, scrap, and recyclable materials. No HTS headings are listed.
WHAT TO DO (OUR GUIDANCE, NOT LEGAL ADVICE)
If your business mines, processes, imports, buys, or uses critical minerals, review whether to submit comments by March 19, 2026. Focus on minerals to prioritize, trading partners, pricing mechanisms, border measures, downstream products, scrap, and enforcement issues raised in the notice.
SOURCES
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE notice, 91 FR 9686 (February 26, 2026)
QUOTES FROM THE SOURCE
Signed: "Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2026)" (source)
End date: "To be assured of consideration, please submit comments by March 19, 2026." (source)
Covered goods: "increase the domestic availability of mined, refined, and processed critical minerals; incentivize reshoring of the mining, processing, refining and production of critical minerals and their derivatives" (source)
Covered goods: "including the development of a plurilateral agreement on trade in critical minerals" (source)
Countries: "diversify the sources of mined, refined, and processed critical minerals and their derivatives among like-minded trading partners" (source)
Status: "USTR invites comments from interested parties on any or all of the following topics" (source)
Awaiting check
Quotes matched to source text by machine; awaiting human check.
Morsa reads your suppliers’ price-increase letters and POs in your inbox and flags the ones a tariff change touches. See how it works
