From natural gas to critical minerals
At a ministerial meeting on rare minerals in Washington, Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu positioned Romania as a key transatlantic partner in economic security.
Mihai Pelin, 09.02.2026, 13:50
US President Donald Trump is firmly committed to working with international partners, including Romania, to secure the supply of essential minerals needed to sustain defense, energy and technology sectors. That was the message from the US Embassy in Bucharest following a recent critical minerals meeting in Washington, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice-President J.D. Vance.
Romania is taking on strategic responsibility as the largest producer of natural gas in the European Union, Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu said in Washington, where she led Romania’s delegation. She added that Romania has a mission to increase production to drive down prices and help shield the region from the use of energy as a tool for political blackmail. Minister Ţoiu also argued for strengthening EU-US relations in the areas of investment, processing and shared market tools.
The ministerial meeting in Washington and the preceding talks had the clear objective of bolstering economic security, creating resilient supply chains for rare minerals, and forging global partnerships to protect industries and jobs for the future. At a time when Romania’s defense industry, tech sector and energy capabilities are in need of resources from the global supply chain, participation in international negotiations becomes key.
The United States seeks to build a coalition of allies to diversify sources of rare earth metals, avoiding dependence on China, currently the dominant power in their extraction and processing, upon which a range of cutting-edge technologies rely. President Donald Trump reiterated the need for rare earth metals, including in the context of claims over the Danish territory of Greenland.
On the sidelines of her participation in the first critical minerals meeting, Oana Ţoiu was also invited to attend the public event titled “Davos to the Arctic: Forging Transatlantic Unity – A Romanian View”, hosted by the American think tank the Hudson Institute. Here, she explained how Romania’s economic success, its economy having grown tenfold in a single generation, now aligns with the need for resilience across the entire transatlantic bloc.
“Our relationship with the United States spans over 120 years, starting with the first American investors in the Romanian energy sector. Today, we are ready to take this partnership to the next level by collaborating in high-tech fields and on critical minerals, which are instrumental for the future of both nations”, Oana Ţoiu said in her address.
The Hudson Institute is a think tank that provides analysis and solutions shaping foreign and security policies in Washington. (VP)
