# The US and Italy Signed a Critical Minerals Pact in New York, and Neither Side Said Which Minerals > Marco Rubio and Antonio Tajani signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals cooperation on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Tajani called it a very important leap forward for US-Italy relations, though the agreement itself stopped short of naming a single mineral, a dollar figure or a project. - Source: Italian Insider - Canonical URL: https://italianinsider.net/en/article/us-italy-critical-minerals-agreement-mou - Author: Elena Moretti - Section: World - Other edition: https://italianinsider.net/article/us-italy-critical-minerals-agreement-mou - Published: 2026-09-22T05:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T05:00:00.000Z - Tags: Antonio Tajani, Marco Rubio, Critical minerals, United States --- The United States and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals in New York on September 22, timed to the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani putting their names to it. Rubio described critical minerals as a subject Washington keeps under constant consideration, and said the United States wants to continue working with Rome on it. Tajani was more emphatic, calling the agreement a leap forward, a very important one, for the relationship between the two countries. What the memorandum does not do, at least according to what either government has said publicly so far, is name a specific mineral, a supply chain, an investment figure or a project. It is a statement of intent to cooperate rather than a contract, the kind of document that establishes a framework two governments can later attach real deals to, or quietly let expire without either side having promised anything binding. Tajani's framing supplied the substance the agreement itself left out. He tied the pact directly to Italy's industrial strategy, arguing that lower raw material costs are what allow Italian manufacturing to stay competitive internationally, and pointed to Italy's own weight in that argument, Europe's second largest industrial economy and the fourth largest trading nation in the world. For a country that imports nearly all the critical minerals its industry depends on, a cooperation framework with the country still setting much of the global agenda on mineral supply chains is worth signing even before it produces anything concrete. The timing fits a broader pattern rather than a standalone announcement. Washington has spent the past two years signing similar critical minerals arrangements with a growing list of partners as it tries to reduce dependence on Chinese processing and supply of the materials that go into batteries, defense systems and electronics. Italy's version of that agreement arrives with warm language and no numbers attached, which makes it either the opening move in something substantial or a diplomatic gesture that reads better in a press release than it will in a supply chain audit five years from now. --- Originally published by Italian Insider. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://italianinsider.net/en/article/us-italy-critical-minerals-agreement-mou.