New Report: Untangling Trump’s Web of Secretive, Exploitative, and Potentially Corrupt Minerals Agreements
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Public Citizen published a new report detailing the Trump administration’s opaque and complex web of international agreements related to critical minerals that entrenches patterns of extractivism around the globe and raises concerns about corruption and self-dealing.
The report and accompanying interactive map document dozens of deals, negotiated in secrecy under threat of tariffs and other geopolitical coercion, which include an array of exploitative provisions to seize control over countries’ mineral resources, commit billions in U.S. taxpayer funds to risky and potentially damaging projects without oversight, and fail to include any enforceable safeguards to protect vulnerable communities.
“Congress can’t afford to ignore the Trump administration’s secretive critical minerals deals any longer,” said Melinda St. Louis, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Division, adding: “Under their noses, the Trump administration is locking in a model of neocolonial extraction that sidelines workers, weakens environmental safeguards, and sacrifices democratic oversight for corporate gain.”
Key findings:
- Gaps in publicly available information. While the Trump administration claimed in February that 38 Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or framework deals on minerals were completed or in negotiations. Public Citizen’s review of publicly available announcements and documents could only confirm the existence of 28 such deals. Less than half of the minerals-related MoUs announced to date have been made fully public, only two of which were released by the U.S. government rather than by the partner country. Public Citizen’s request for those documents under the Freedom of Information Act is pending.
- Complex web of deals. President Trump’s 12 executive orders related to critical minerals underpin a whole-of-government web of deals. Our analysis identifies and explains five different types of minerals deals with varying levels of enforceability.
- Mapping the known minerals deals to date. Our interactive map shows the more than three dozen countries (plus the EU) where various types of deals have been announced or completed.
- Vulnerable countries got worse deals. Compared to more powerful countries, countries that depend on exporting to the U.S., that are facing high tariffs, or that seek U.S. security protections amid violent conflict were forced into deals full of onerous obligations that diminish their sovereign control over their resources.
- Opportunities for self-dealing and corruption. As the recent Kazakhstan reporting indicates, these deals are ripe for potential self-dealing and conflicts of interest.
“This chaotic mess of coercive trade deals, frameworks, MOUs, and action plans – and how they lead to billions of taxpayer dollars going to shady deals – should raise serious concerns to policymakers,” said Nghia Nguyen, Research Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and primary author of the report. “Our report will give policymakers a roadmap for a more transparent, participatory process with meaningful oversight.”