Santiago, March 12th (Argus) - During a meeting between Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the United States and Chile signed a joint statement, initiating discussions on key minerals and rare earths.
On the first day of Kast's tenure, the two sides held a bilateral meeting in Santiago, the capital of Chile. This meeting took place during Landau's visit to Chile to attend Kast's inauguration ceremony.
The Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the meeting would discuss how to establish mechanisms to strengthen the supply chain of these key minerals.
The technical teams of the two countries will also review jointly identifying "interested projects", managing waste from key minerals and rare earths, and exploring public-private financing mechanisms for projects.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the aim is to turn these initial discussions into a formal framework for cooperation between the two countries on these issues.
The Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the statement signed by US and Chilean Foreign Ministers Francisco Perez "reaffirms the close cooperation between the two countries".
The mutual support between the two countries in key mineral supply is considered crucial for the security and commercial interests of both countries.
Following the public criticism by former left-wing President Gabriel Boric of the leadership of US President Donald Trump, the tense relationship between the US and Chile reached its lowest point in February this year, when the US revoked the visas of three Chilean government officials.
On February 4th, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched an initiative with allies excluding Chile to establish a secure and resilient supply chain for key minerals.
According to data from the US Geological Survey, Chile is the world's largest copper producer and the third-largest lithium producer. Chile has the world's largest lithium reserves, but due to legal restrictions in the 20th century that limited the development of lithium, the country's lithium reserves have largely remained undeveloped.
