US, Australia sign rare earth deal

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U S eyes the continent s rich rare-earth materials when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad The two leaders described the agreement as an billion deal between the allies Trump mentioned it had been negotiated over several months In about a year from now we ll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won t know what to do with them mentioned Trump a Republican boasting about the deal They ll be worth Albanese added that the agreement takes the U S -Australia relationship to the next level Earlier this month Beijing released that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese ruling body to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese hardware The Trump administration says this gives China broad power over the global financial sector by controlling the tech supply chain Australia is really really going to be helpful in the effort to take the global financial system and make it less risky less exposed to the kind of rare earth extortion that we re seeing from the Chinese Kevin Hassett the director of the White House s National Economic Council communicated reporters Monday morning ahead of Trump s meeting with Albanese Hassett noted that Australia has one of the best mining economies in the world while praising its refiners and its abundance of rare earth support Among the Australian agents accompanying Albanese are ministers overseeing information and industry and science and Australia has dozens of critical minerals sought by the U S because they are needed in everything from fighter jets and electric vehicles to laptops and phones A push for more mines The agreement could have an immediate impact on rare earth supplies in the United States if American companies can secure specific of what Australian mines are already producing although it will take years if not decades to develop enough of a supply of rare earths outside of China to reduce their dominance Pini Althaus who founded USA Rare Earth back in and is now working to develop new mines in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as CEO of Cove Capital revealed it will be crucial that the contracts to buy materials from Australian mines include price floors similar to what the U S ruling body promised MP Materials this summer to protect against China manipulating prices For decades China has used the tactic of dumping excess critical minerals onto the domain to drive prices down to force mining companies in the rest of the world out of business to eliminate any competition Taking away that arrow of China s to be able to manipulate pricing is a crucial first step for Australia and the West to be able to develop critical minerals projects to meet our demands mentioned Althaus who has spent nearly a quarter-century in the mining business The agreement underscores how the U S is using its global allies to counter China especially as it weaponizes its traditional dominance in rare earth materials Top Trump functionaries have used the tactics from Beijing as a rallying cry for the U S and its allies to work together to try to minimize China s influence China is a command-and-control economic activity and we and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed last week They are a state market and we are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chains The level of expenditure outlined in the agreement shows how serious the two nations are about addressing the complication The U S and Australia will invest over billion in joint critical minerals projects within six months That s a somewhat unprecedented speed of capital injection reported Gracelin Baskaran director of the Critical Minerals Guard Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington But Althaus cautioned that Australia can t supply everything the United States demands so it is crucial that American continues to invest in the long-term effort to develop other mining and processing projects both at home and in friendly nations He announced central Asia might be one of the largest part promising places to invest because the region has major rare earth reserves and the Soviet Union already did various of the initial progress work when it controlled that territory That could cut years off the time it will take to build a new mine there Keep in mind China has almost a -year head start on us Althaus reported We have at least a couple of decades to catch up to China in terms of being able to meet our own supply chain processes Albanese s visit comes just before Trump is planning to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month The guard partnership Another topic of discussion was AUKUS a safeguard pact with Australia the U S and the United Kingdom that was signed during U S President Joe Biden s Democratic administration Trump noted Monday that AUKUS was established a while ago but that the agreement now is moving along very rapidly very well Albanese stated that our defense and guard partnership with AUKUS is so fundamental for us John Phelan the Navy secretary disclosed that the U S wants to take the original AUKUS framework and improve it for the three signatory countries while clarifying specific of the ambiguity in it So it should be a win-win for everybody Phelan revealed A four-wheel-drive truck is dwarfed by a large mining truck as it makes its way to the top of a Boggabri coal mine near Gunnedah Australia miles northwest of Sydney AP Photo Rob Griffith File