Silverado Speaks on Panel at Mining Indaba

Last month, Silverado Policy Accelerator’s Mahnaz Khan spoke at Mining Indaba on the panel “Critical Minerals Investment in a Post-Tariff Global Economy” and what it means for Africa’s role in global critical mineral supply chains.

The Challenge

Current U.S. tariff structures still largely reinforce an extraction-based model, where raw or minimally processed minerals often receive duty-free or reduced-duty treatment.

But more processed mineral products, chemical intermediates, and battery materials are far more likely to face tariffs. In practice, this can discourage downstream processing and beneficiation in African producer countries.

What could change this dynamic?

Bilateral agreements with African partners

• Tailored bilateral trade agreements could align tariff structures across the supply chain with the needs of U.S. companies and African producers. These agreements allow governments to identify strategic minerals, support key processing stages, and treat intermediate materials as inputs rather than penalizing them with tariffs.
• A bilateral approach could be especially impactful along the Lobito Corridor linking Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia—connecting some of the world’s most important copper and cobalt regions to growing U.S. demand from AI, energy, and defense sectors.

Modernizing AGOA

• A longer-term AGOA renewal that better aligns tariff preferences should better align with downstream beneficiation and pairs with infrastructure, energy, and industrial investment could help attract U.S. investment into mining and processing. However, the current short AGOA extension to December 2026 and the fact that not all major African mineral producers are AGOA-eligible limit its effectiveness for critical minerals unless the legislation is modernized.

Plurilateral Critical Minerals Agreements

• Another pathway is building plurilateral mineral agreements that integrate African producers into trusted U.S. and allied trading bloc—creating a coordinated market that includes both producers and buyers.

The Takeaway

If the goal is to support value addition in Africa, trade policy must evolve alongside supply chain strategy. That means creating predictable trade frameworks for African countries that invest in value beneficiation paired with U.S. business interests.