Critical Minerals Agreements (CMAs) are targeted trade agreements ideally designed to expand and strengthen critical minerals supply chains — although they don’t always work out that way.

CMAs typically offer foreign critical minerals suppliers preferred access to U.S. tax credits, financial assistance, technical assistance or other benefits.  

Depending upon how they’re written, CMAs can help countries meet shared climate, job creation and sustainable development goals or they can end up accelerating exploitative models of resource extraction harmful to workers, communities and the environment.

To aid in climate solutions, job creation and sustainable development, any proposed Critical Minerals agreement must be negotiated in a fully transparent, participatory manner and include measures that:

1. Prioritize “reduce, reuse and recycling” in critical minerals supply chains, instead of just new mining operations alone;
2. Create good-paying jobs in value chain industries in both the United States and the regions in which critical minerals are being extracted or recovered;
3. Establish strong, binding standards on labor rights, the environment, ownership transparency, indigenous rights and community consent throughout the supply chain;  and
4. Ensure standards are backed by swift-and-certain enforcement mechanisms coupled with meaningful, facility-specific penalties for rights violations. 

Read the more-detailed recommendations of key environmental, faith, fair trade and other civil society groups online here.