EV Talks Explore Mineral Supplies WASHINGTON-Representatives of Europe's two top economies proposed new efforts with the U.S. to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals used in electric vehicles and other green technology products, even as they continued to press the U.S. about its clean energy legislation. Robert Habeck, German vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action, proposed Tuesday creating a "critical minerals club" with the U.S. during a trip to Washington where he met with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, among others. Bruno Le Maire, French minister for finance, economy and industry, also attended the meetings. The two ministers were the latest European officials to meet their U.S. counterparts to press for the inclusion of European businesses in programs stemming from the U.S.'s Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates $369 billion on energy security and climate change programs over the next 10 years. European officials have said the IRA's provision to require local assembly and parts and minerals contents to qualify for electric vehicle tax credits discriminates against Euro-pean companies. Mr. Habeck said at a news conference that the goal of a critical minerals club is to find concrete measures to diversify supplies of critical minerals and reduce reliance on a small number of suppliers including China. The club, he said, could also lead to further alignments between the EU and the U.S. on clean energy products, which could resolve the current bilateral tension over the IRA, which he said is threatening to cause a "race to subsidies." Mr. Le Maire said the primary goal of their visit was to discuss with the U.S. ways to better cooperate on policies for green and sustainable industry. "We should have the same strategic objectives in the two continents... by creating new supply chains for hydrogen, chips, solar panels, batteries, EVs and so on," he said. The European officials, Mr. Le Maire said, made substantive progress in their discussions with their U.S. counterparts Tuesday. The two sides, he said, agreed on the necessity of full transparency on the level of subsidies and tax credits and the inclusion of as many EU companies as possible in the IRA-linked projects, he said. While U.S. officials didn't comment on the ministers' statements, Ms. Raimondo stressed that the IRA is "a key tool and is the most significant U.S. climate legislation to date," according to a readout of their meeting. She also commented on the strong U.S.-EU collaboration and progress made on semiconductor supply chains through the bilateral Trade and Technology Council. The IRA's provision for electric-vehicle tax credit includes a requirement that a certain amount of critical minerals in the vehicle's battery come from countries that have a free-trade agreement with the U.S., a rule that irked the EU because it doesn't have an FTA. U.S. officials have discussed negotiating a narrow critical-minerals agreement with the EU that would allow the bloc to qualify for the critical- minerals provision, according to people familiar with the matter. The European Union's executive body last week set out a roadmap for competing with American green subsidies. -Andrew Restuccia and Andrew Duehren contributed to this article. German, French ministers press Washington over tax credits.