{"id":340741,"date":"2026-03-21T12:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340741\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:40:16","slug":"new-zealand-officials-have-had-united-states-critical-minerals-framework-for-months-despite-christopher-luxon-saying-talks-very-preliminary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340741\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand officials have had United States critical minerals framework for months despite Christopher Luxon saying talks \u2018very preliminary\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Prime Minister attempted to water down talk that such a framework could soon be agreed<\/a>, saying reporting had been \u201cvery speculative and ahead of itself\u201d and \u201cwe haven\u2019t made a Cabinet decision or had a fulsome discussion about it all\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the US was having conversations with more than 40 countries on critical minerals and \u201cwe are part of conversations with lots of countries on issues like this\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the Cabinet document said that on November 21, New Zealand officials in Washington met with representatives from the US National Security Council and the Department of Commerce to \u201cdiscuss critical minerals and express New Zealand\u2019s interest in an arrangement with the US\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not long afterwards, on December 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) received a proposed framework.<\/p>\n

Resources Minister Shane Jones then took an oral item to Cabinet on the topic on December 17, in which he advised his ministerial colleagues of opportunities and risks.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Prime Minister attempted to hose down talk that a framework was soon to be signed. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

In late January, the Herald and other media outlets reported that discussions were underway between New Zealand and the United States<\/a>, with the two countries working towards an announcement.<\/p>\n

Luxon made his first comment on the matter<\/a> during his morning media round on February 2, which would have been ahead of a Cabinet meeting later that day.<\/p>\n

It was during that meeting that Cabinet \u201cnoted that officials have negotiated amendments to the text\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ministers also noted New Zealand would not sign the framework at a summit<\/a> being held in Washington later that week, where other countries were doing deals. Instead, Jones was invited to return to Cabinet at a later point with \u201cfurther advice\u201d on the framework and \u201cto seek approval for the next steps\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following that Cabinet meeting, Luxon continued to talk down reports of a deal being made and refused to say what the benefits could be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate as media you want to talk about that, and you\u2019ve seen reporting over the weekend, but you\u2019ve got well ahead of where Cabinet is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I\u2019m saying to you is we definitely want to develop a critical mineral sector, absolutely no doubt about it. We will make sure that we do that in our own national interest as we always do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a meeting in Washington that week, New Zealand\u2019s top diplomat \u201ccommitted to explore further opportunities to expand co-operation<\/a> on critical minerals\u201d with the United States in a meeting with a senior official from US President Donald Trump\u2019s Administration.<\/p>\n

Luxon would later still say discussions were at a \u201cvery preliminary\u201d<\/a> stage.<\/p>\n

\"ResourcesResources Minister Shane Jones spoke to Cabinet about it in December. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n

The Cabinet paper on the topic highlighted several benefits for New Zealand from the framework, particularly around strengthening economic security and resilience, growing regional development, diversifying trade and investment partnerships.<\/p>\n

There were also \u201crisks to signing the framework\u201d outlined, but this is mostly redacted in the document the Herald has seen.<\/p>\n

Also largely redacted is a section on the \u201cimpact on other international relationships, especially China\u201d. The Herald reported in February that the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand<\/a> was watching \u201cgathering further information\u201d on the proposed framework.<\/p>\n

One aspect of that section which isn\u2019t redacted is a note on US President Donald Trump suggested it could be appropriate to impose tariffs if agreements with countries aren\u2019t reached.<\/p>\n

The document also goes into concerns raised by M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

As the Herald reported at the time<\/a>, a memorandum was filed at the Waitangi Tribunal raising concerns an agreement could \u201cbe finalised and signed without M\u0101ori, or anyone else in Aotearoa, being aware\u201d and may \u201dbreach the principles of rangatiratanga and k\u0101wanatanga”.<\/p>\n

Ministers were informed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has engaged with some M\u0101ori groups, which raised concerns about the process \u2013 \u201cthe lack of domestic engagement with affected M\u0101ori rights-holders\u201d \u2013 the absence of language protecting M\u0101ori rights, and New Zealand partnering with the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese groups have recommended formal Government opposition to adopting the framework, a reset of the process, an explicit recognition of Treaty of Waitangi obligations, M\u0101ori rights and interests and resource protections, and consent-based approaches to development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper said officials would ensure all Treaty obligations and commitments were adhered to if further steps were taken. More engagement would take place on actions arising from the framework.<\/p>\n

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald\u2019s Chief Political Reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Prime Minister attempted to water down talk that such a framework could soon be agreed, saying reporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11675,16426,11728,7500,127,39539,5504,2082,143466,1351,305,12469,16427,2374,23472,3234,117,111,43,139,69,10711,37967,58363,29056,2687,7811,4497,9939,301,9938,3040,303,2988,5977,102,80],"class_list":["post-340741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-arrangement","tag-christopher","tag-critical","tag-december","tag-despite","tag-expressed","tag-following","tag-for","tag-framework","tag-had","tag-have","tag-interest","tag-luxon","tag-meeting","tag-minerals","tag-months","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officials","tag-possession","tag-preliminary","tag-proposed","tag-saying","tag-since","tag-start","tag-states","tag-talks","tag-united","tag-us","tag-very","tag-washington","tag-which","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}