The US administration has proposed a 50-country bloc to secure critical minerals and insulate supply chains against Chinese hegemony.At the ‘critical minerals ministerial’ in Washington, US Vice-President JD Vance set the tone for having such a bloc that would have the US and its allies who can use tariffs to maintain prices and defend against China’s tactic of flooding the market to undermine any potential competitors. He said the US was proposing a trading bloc for critical minerals, and many countries had already signed on to the plan.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also part of the meeting that is expected to formalise an arrangement in this regard. Jaishankar also spoke about de-risking supply chains through structured international cooperation. “Highlighted India’s efforts towards greater resilience through initiatives, including National Critical Minerals Mission, Rare Earth Corridors and responsible commerce,” he said.The EAM also met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a deliberate effort by both sides to move ties towards long-term strategic priorities, notably critical minerals, supply chains and the Indo-Pacific.Coming on the heels of a trade deal that cut US tariffs on Indian goods to around 18 percent, the talks underscored Washington’s push to stabilise and deepen ties with New Delhi at a time of global economic and geopolitical churn.Earlier Vance, while addressing the meeting, said the US government would set baseline prices for rare earths to ensure that foreign competitors – like China — were unable to undercut domestic producers and a trading bloc among the US and its allies. He highlighted that prices for critical minerals must be made “more predictable and less erratic”, for the US to rebuild its critical minerals industry to counter China in the global market.“We want members to form a trading bloc among allies and partners, one that guarantees American access to American industrial might, while also expanding production across the entire zone,” Vance said.“We will never have to rely on anybody else except for each other, for the critical minerals necessary to sustain our industries as well as growth,” he added.Critical minerals are needed for everything from jet engines to smartphones. China dominates the market for those ingredients. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in October last year and agreed to pull back on high tariffs, while Beijing stepped-down on rare earth restrictions. But China’s limits on exports of rare earths remain tight.Two days ago, US President Donald Trump had announced Project Vault, a plan for stockpile of rare elements to be funded with a $10 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital.Trump administration is making moves after China, which controls 70 percent of the world’s rare earths mining and 90 percent of the processing, choked off the flow of the elements in response to Trump’s tariff war.