India and the United States signed a strategic framework for cooperation on critical minerals and rare earth elements on 26 May 2026 in New Delhi. The agreement was signed by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the latter's four-day visit to India that concluded around the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting. The framework covers the entire critical minerals and rare-earth supply chain including mining, processing, recycling, and related investments. Through the framework, the two countries committed to engage in international efforts to protect sensitive supply chains from coercive market practices and reduce collective vulnerability to single-source monopolies. Critical minerals include lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earth elements and several others that are vital for clean energy technologies, electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, defence systems and advanced manufacturing. China currently processes about 90 per cent of the world's rare earths and dominates global supply chains for several critical minerals, which has emerged as a strategic vulnerability for technology-importing economies. The India-US framework follows the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative announced separately the same day in which the four Quad nations committed to mobilising up to USD 20 billion. For India, the deal provides access to American technology and investment to scale up domestic exploration and processing capacity. It complements ongoing initiatives such as the National Critical Minerals Mission and the Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) joint venture established to secure mineral assets overseas.