US Agency Places Energy, Critical Minerals Among Priorities for Morocco Investment

Marrakech – The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) plans to expand its support for strategic projects in Morocco, spanning energy, critical minerals, digital infrastructure, and transportation, as the country works to attract investment in sectors tied to its economy and the security of its supplies.

Gretchen Krantz-Evans, the Middle East and North Africa regional country director at the US government agency (USTDA), told Asharq Business that these four sectors form the priorities for future cooperation with Morocco.

The focus, according to her, covers diversifying global supply chains for critical minerals, backing energy infrastructure, deploying trusted technologies and artificial intelligence across digital networks, and building safe, efficient transport systems.

USTDA is the government body tasked with supporting the development of vital infrastructure in emerging markets. It funds early studies and preliminary technical work that accelerate projects and help them draw the financing needed to move forward. Since it began operating in the North African country, its grants to Moroccan projects and partners have totaled around $25 million.

Natural gas ranks high among the areas of potential cooperation. USTDA is preparing to host a Moroccan delegation in the United States in September to review liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, particularly in the production and transport phases.

The visit comes as Morocco’s first LNG project, controlled by Managem at the Tendrara field, prepares to begin commercial production this year.

In parallel, the country is running early studies for the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic African gas pipeline, advancing infrastructure linked to the Nador West Med port, and developing renewable energy and green hydrogen.

Krantz-Evans described LNG as one of the agency’s energy priorities. She pointed to earlier USTDA financing for Nador feasibility studies in 2015 and 2018, which covered a fuel blending terminal and an LNG regasification facility.

Minerals and the supply-chain race

Critical minerals form the second strategic track. Washington is seeking to diversify global supply chains for these materials and cut its reliance on a narrow set of sources.

Morocco holds a broad mineral and industrial base led by phosphates and their derivatives, and it controls roughly 70-75% of the world’s phosphate reserves, a resource now central to fertilizer production and, by extension, global food security.

Its mining companies are also expanding beyond phosphate into cobalt, copper, and nickel, the metals that feed battery, technology, and clean-energy supply chains.

That base, paired with free-trade access to Western markets, has drawn major Chinese battery and automotive firms to build production and processing hubs in the kingdom, turning it into a strategic destination in the EV supply chain.

The phosphate trade with Washington has also reopened. In a June 29 proclamation, President Donald Trump declared a fertilizer-supply emergency and temporarily suspended the countervailing duties that had helped keep OCP Group largely out of the US market.

The relief cleared the way for the first Moroccan shipment in years, about 54,000 tons of triple superphosphate (TSP), to reach the Port of New Orleans in August.

OCP’s North American arm and the farmer-owned cooperative CHS are moving to produce on US soil as well, with a joint venture worth up to MAD 4.5 billion ($450 million) for a phosphate fertilizer plant in Waggaman, Louisiana. Slated to produce more than 1 million tons a year, it would be the first US facility of its kind since 1984 and could cut American reliance on imported phosphate fertilizer by more than 48%.

USTDA officials met the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), which grants mineral and oil exploration licenses, and the head of Managem, the Moroccan group with precious-metal projects at home and across the continent and the largest company by market value on the country’s exchange.

That engagement follows a broader shift. On February 4, Morocco and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington on critical minerals cooperation, one of eleven such frameworks the US concluded that day at a ministerial meeting hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and attended by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

USTDA’s support is furthest along in the south. In July, the agency announced a $5.7 million grant for preliminary studies of a project targeting more than half a million tons of ammonia a year in Morocco’s southern provinces in the Western Sahara, overseen by developer ORNX within an international consortium.

The grant was signed July 28 in Laayoune, and in August the consortium selected US firm KBR for the pre-FEED study. US Ambassador Duke Buchan III called it the first US federal financing dedicated to a project in the southern provinces.

The first phase targets about 560,000 tons of green ammonia a year, with initial investment near $4.5 billion.

Krantz-Evans explained that USTDA’s role reaches beyond funding studies, opening the way for international lenders and investors to provide direct financing, equity, or the structures projects require.

Morocco’s location and trade ties, she added, draw American firms, which cite the US-Morocco free trade agreement and the kingdom’s role as a gateway to African markets.