India, July 2 -- The four-nation Quad grouping announced a new Critical Minerals Initiative during a meeting of their Foreign Ministers in Washington on Tuesday. This comes just after China - which dominates the processing and supply of key critical minerals - imposed restrictions on the export of seven rare earth metals in April 2025. Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals, which are elements and substances that are crucial to national and economic security given their importance in manufacturing and defence sectors.

"We are deeply concerned about the abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals. This includes the use of non-market policies and practices for critical minerals...