Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani signed a critical-minerals agreement Monday that creates a new channel for the U.S. and Italy to coordinate on supply chains, investment and the security of strategic industries.

The signing, held at the Lotte New York Palace on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, was the public centerpiece of a broader bilateral meeting that ranged from trade and industrial policy to Iran, Ukraine, maritime security and NATO.

The Pavlovic Today was in the room as part of Rubio’s press pool.

The agreement establishes a joint technical working group charged with advancing cooperation on critical-mineral recycling and recovery and developing projects across the supply chain.

“It’s great to be here with Minister Tajani. He’s the deputy prime minister and become a good friend, and our two countries work very closely together,” Rubio said before the signing.

“And we’re very happy and pleased to be signing this Memorandum of Understanding on a critical topic that we all know is being considered constantly on the issue of critical minerals, and Italy has been a great partner and one we continue to want to work with, so grazie.”

For Italy, the deal is as much about industrial competitiveness as national security.

“Thank you very much, Marco. For Italy it is very important to sign this Memorandum of Understanding. As you know, Italy is an industrial country, the second most important industrial country in Europe, and on trade we are number four in the world. The prices of our raw materials is very, very important for us. This – this agreement with America is a key point for our strategy, for our industrial policy,” Tajani said.

The two officials then signed the memorandum.

Secretary Marco Rubio participates in a Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in New York City, September 21, 2026. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)

Speaking through an interpreter afterward, Tajani returned to the issue of cost.

“Thank you. For us it’s very important to sign this agreement because Italy is an industrial country. For us the raw materials are very important. We are collaborating with the United States. Now we have participated a great event organized by Rubio in Washington, and this is the follow-up of that conference. And we want to compete at the international level. It’s important to have a reduced price of these raw materials, and so this is very important. Today with the United States we are going a leap forward, a very important one. Thank you.”

The Italian Foreign Ministry said the agreement is intended to strengthen supply chains through information sharing, technical expertise and the mobilization of public and private capital for extraction, processing and recycling.

It also brings pricing into the discussion. Rome said the two countries plan to work with international partners on mechanisms aimed at producing what Italy describes as fairer pricing for critical raw materials.

That gives the pact a wider economic dimension. Washington and its allies have increasingly focused not only on where critical minerals are mined, but also on who controls processing, investment and pricing across the supply chain.

According to an Italian summary of the bilateral, Tajani and Rubio discussed freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, efforts toward peace involving Iran and Ukraine, Italy’s role in Lebanon and political and economic engagement in Latin America.

Venezuela and Argentina were raised in that context, including oil and gas.

Tajani also told Rubio that Italy wants to expand exports and investment in the U.S. and pointed to the opening of a new Italian economic agency in New York.

NATO featured in the discussion as well. The Italian side said Tajani emphasized Rome’s military capabilities, its role in the alliance’s southern flank and cooperation between the U.S. and Italian defense industries.

The minerals agreement builds on a series of recent U.S.-Italy initiatives.

Tajani participated earlier this year in Washington in the launch of FORGE, the U.S.-led Forum for Geostrategic Engagement on Resources. Italy also joined the American-backed PAX Silica initiative on July 31, aimed at strengthening supply chains related to artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

Rome says the new bilateral memorandum will complement broader U.S.-European cooperation on critical minerals.

The result is a framework that reaches beyond access to raw materials.

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Ksenija Pavlovic is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Pavlovic Today, The Chief White House Correspondent. Pavlovic was a Teaching Fellow and Doctoral Fellow in the Political Science department at...

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