Norway's Ambassador Says USTR Hasn't Offered to Negotiate on Critical Minerals
Norway, one of the major suppliers of electric vehicle battery minerals to the U.S., hasn't gotten any encouragement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative when its representatives have asked to negotiate a critical minerals agreement.
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The U.S. has already reached an agreement with Japan that will allow materials mined, processed or recycled in Japan to be included in EV batteries and still qualify for Inflation Reduction Act consumer tax credits. It has been negotiating a critical minerals agreement with the EU, but Norway is not in the EU.
Norway's Ambassador in Washington, Anniken Krutnes, told International Trade Today that she has told USTR officials "we would be interested in negotiating an agreement on critical minerals."
Krutnes said the U.S. hasn't said that they are busy now with the EU, but could turn to Norway later. "There are messages [from the U.S.] that they understand our viewpoint, they understand that we have a lot of minerals, and that we are not part of the EU...." but nothing beyond that, she said.
Krutnes was one of the ambassadors on a panel hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 17, on the importance of the trans-Atlantic commercial relationship. During the panel, she said Norway was the top supplier of cobalt to the U.S. last year, the third largest supplier of nickel, and that Norway also has the biggest reserve of natural graphite in Europe.
She spoke to ITT after the event.
"Another aspect of this is: we do have a lot of undeveloped deposits. I don't think that investors would be interested in minerals that were developed in Norway that would be discriminated [against] in the American market. They would choose other options where they didn't have that difficulty," she said.
Krutnes noted that many of these deposits are on the border between Norway and Sweden, and that if the EU gets a deal, Sweden, as an EU member, would be covered.
A spokesperson for USTR said there were no updates on future critical minerals negotiation plans.