Overview
- Vice President JD Vance opened the State Department’s ministerial by proposing a preferential trade zone that reduces dependence on China’s processing dominance.
- The plan would set reference prices at each stage of production, using adjustable tariffs to enforce price floors and deter market dumping that undercuts non‑Chinese producers.
- U.S. officials said 55 countries took part, with attendees including India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- USTR Jamieson Greer announced a bilateral plan with Mexico and a trilateral framework with the European Union and Japan to develop supply‑chain rules, with further details and broader agreements under discussion.
- Two days earlier, the administration launched Project Vault, a strategic minerals reserve backed by a $10 billion Export‑Import Bank loan and roughly $2 billion in private capital, alongside ongoing direct investments in U.S. producers.