Critical minerals stocks fall; Vance touts price floor system

American Resources

04/02/2026 17:02

Updates

** Shares of rare earths and critical minerals companies fall between 8% and 14%

** U.S. Vice President JD Vance unveiled plans to marshal allies into a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals, proposing coordinated price floors as Washington escalates efforts to loosen China's grip on materials crucial to advanced manufacturing

** By guaranteeing minimum prices through coordinated trade rules, Washington hopes to unlock private investment in mining and processing projects that have struggled to compete with cheaper Chinese supply

** MP Materials MP.N down 9.8%, US Rare Earth USAR.O falls 12%, Critical Metals CRML.O declines 11.3%

** American Resources AREC.O down 12%

** Shares of other critical minerals and metals companies fall as well; United States Antimony UAMY.A down 13.9%, TMC TMC.O declines 8.6%

** Lithium miners shares also down with Albemarle ALB.N declining 2.3% and U.S-listed shares of SQM  down 7.3%

 (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru)

 ((Arunima.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aru_Kumar94))