Trump and Albanese sign rare earths and critical minerals agreements

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a rare earths and critical minerals agreement on Monday aimed at ensuring a steady supply of the materials.

The agreement comes at a time when China is trying to tighten control over global supply.

As they met at the White House for their first summit, Trump said the deal had been negotiated over four or five months. Albanese described it as an $8.5 billion pipeline "that we have ready to go."

The full terms of the agreement were not immediately available. The two leaders said part of the agreement had to do with processing of the minerals. Albanese said both countries will contribute $1 billion over the next six months for joint projects.

The United States has been looking for access to rare earths and critical minerals around the world as China tightens control over global supply.

China has the world's largest rare earths reserves, according to U.S. Geological Survey data, but Australia also has significant reserves.

The two leaders also planned to discuss the A$368 billion($239.46 billion) AUKUS agreement, reached in 2023 under then-President Joe Biden, in which Australia is to buy U.S. nuclear-powered submarines in 2032 before building a new submarine class with Britain.

Navy Secretary John Phelan told the meeting the United States and Australia were working very closely to improve the original AUKUS framework for all three parties "and clarify some of the ambiguity that was in the prior agreement."

Trump said these were "just minor details."

"There shouldn't be any more clarifications, because we're just, we're just going now full steam ahead, building," Trump said.

Australian officials have said they are confident AUKUS will proceed, with Defence Minister Richard Marles last week saying he knew when the review would conclude.

"Part of this deal is a very specific, $8.5bn pipeline," Albanese said this morning at the White House. He said one project will include Japan, too, adding that "what we're trying to do here is take the opportunities which are there".

The Australian Prime Minister arrived at the White House on Monday for his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, looking for a bigger U.S. commitment to Australia's critical minerals sector as China tightens control over global supply.

He also expected to discuss nuclear submarines, trade and Indo Pacific stability with Trump, his office said. Albanese travelled to Washington with his minister for resources, but not the foreign and defence ministers.

While Trump has been intent on rolling back Biden-era policies, Australian officials have said they are confident AUKUS will proceed, with Defence Minister Richard Marles last week saying he knew when the review would conclude.

"Australia and the United States have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in every major conflict for over a century," Albanese, re-elected in May for a second term, said in a statement on Sunday.

Ahead of Monday's meeting between the two leaders, Australian officials have emphasised that Canberra is paying its way under AUKUS, contributing $2 billion this year to boost production rates at U.S. submarine shipyards.

The country is also preparing to maintain U.S. Virginia-class submarines at its Indian Ocean naval base starting in 2027.

The delay of 10 months in an official meeting since Trump took office has caused some anxiety in Australia as the Pentagon urged Canberra to lift defence spending. The two leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

Australia is willing to sell shares in its planned strategic reserve of critical minerals to allies including Britain, Reuters reported last month, as Western governments scramble to end their reliance on China for rare earths and minor metals.

Top U.S. officials last week condemned Beijing's expansion of rare earth export controls as a threat to global supply chains. China is the world's biggest producer of the materials that are vital materials for products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars.

Resource-rich Australia, wanting to extract and process rare earths, put preferential access to its strategic reserve on the table in U.S. trade negotiations in April.

Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney, said the "mood music is good" for the summit, and "the outstanding bilateral issues are not terribly serious.

"The most important thing is for Mr Albanese to establish a cooperative, professional and hopefully warm relationship with the president," he said.

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