Getting Critical Minerals Certification and Due Diligence Right in the DRC-Rwanda Accord and beyond (With a Lesson from a Punk Band?)

Jan 21, 2026 | Brad Brooks-Rubin
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Most current analysis focuses on the core challenge of how critical minerals can be extracted in a smooth and efficient manner, on the one hand, and how supply chain certification and due diligence mechanisms can promote responsible practices, on the other. That’s especially the case because so much sourcing occurs in conflict-affected and high-risk countries, such as Ukraine, Central Asia, and beyond. The Regional Economic and Integration Framework that the Trump administration helped craft between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda (known as the REIF) is just the latest of the US president’s foreign policy priorities to be rooted in minerals access for the United States and, purportedly, in responsible economic development for the two countries. (It is to be seen, of course, whether Venezuela goes in this direction, but it could, given that they also have a range of minerals in addition to oil.)