U.S. Rebrands MSP as FORGE, Taps South Korea as Chair Until June 2026

FORGE echoes the 1974 creation of the International Energy Agency—born after the first oil shock—yet this time the cartel worry is mineral, not petroleum, dominance. Like the IEA, the new forum tries to pool buying power and data among ‘trusted partners’; unlike the 1970s, China sits outside, controlling ~70 % of rare-earth processing. The episode also recalls the failed 1930s tin and rubber commodity pacts—reminding that price-floor schemes can unravel when demand or politics shift. Long-term, the move signals the acceleration of ‘friend-shoring’: supply chains are being realigned along geopolitical lines, fragmenting a 30-year trend of hyper-globalisation. South Korea’s hedging—chairing a U.S.-led bloc while deepening a lifeline to Chinese suppliers—shows the structural bind of mid-power manufacturers caught between rival spheres. Whether FORGE matures into an enduring institution or remains another acronym will shape the material basis of the AI-battery-EV economy for decades; if it succeeds, it could blunt the leverage of any single producer, but if it splinters, it may merely harden resource nationalism and create duelling commodity blocs reminiscent of the raw-material rivalries that fed tensions before both World Wars.