US President Donald Trump signs agreement on critical minerals With Australia

US President Donald Trump signed an agreement with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to boost access to critical minerals and rare earths as the US looks to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains.

"We are discussing critical minerals and rare earths and we are going to be signing an agreement that’s been negotiated over a period of four or five months," Trump said at the White House on Monday (October 20) as the two leaders met. “In about a year from now, we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you won’t know what to do with them.”

Albanese said the deal represented an $8.5 billion “pipeline that we have ready to go.” He hailed the agreement on minerals and rare earths as “taking it to the next level,” praising the economic and defense cooperation between the two countries. The two leaders said the agreement would include Australian processing of rare earths.

The sitdown, Albanese’s first White House visit since Trump retook power, comes as the Australian PM looks to shore up ties with the US, using his nation’s wealth in critical minerals as leverage. China’s move to impose unprecedented export restrictions on rare earths has rattled economies across the globe, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying last week that allies — including Australia — are in talks about a united response.

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Australia, which holds the world’s fourth-largest deposits of rare earths, has sough to position itself as a viable alternative to China for supplies crucial for industries covering semiconductors, defense technology, renewable energy and other sectors. The country is also the base of the only producer of so-called heavy rare earths outside China through Lynas Rare Earths Ltd.

Efforts to secure a deal were underway well ahead of Albanese’s visit. More than a dozen Australian mining firms held meetings last month in Washington with officials from various agencies and were told the US was looking for ways to obtain equity-like stakes in companies, according to people familiar with the talks, part of a broader American strategy to develop supply chains to compete with China.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers met with US investors from firms including Blackstone Inc. and Blue Owl Capital in New York last week to pitch his country as a stable, resource-rich destination for global capital and a key partner in efforts to diversify critical supply chains.

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There has been growing confidence that Australia and the United States would begin discussions on how Canberra could provide secure rare earth shipments and bolster US capabilities. That belief has sparked investor enthusiasm, sending shares of miners such as Lynas up by over 150% during the past 12 months.

Trump on Monday said the two leaders would also discuss “trade, submarines, lots of other military equipment,” with defense matters high on the agenda. At issue are plans for the US under the Aukus pact to sell Australia as many as five nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines by the early 2030s.

Australia and the UK would then design and build a next-generation submarine partly using American technology, due to be completed in the 2040s. The US president has pressed Canberra to increase defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product from around 2% now, a move Australia has so far resisted.

The Aukus pact was signed by former President Joe Biden’s team in 2021 to counter Chinese military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region and the submarine deal is central to the collective security agreement. The Trump administration, however, is reviewing the pact to determine if it is “aligned with the President’s America First agenda,” according to the Pentagon, raising fears that Trump could quit the agreement.

Officials from Australia and the UK, though, have downplayed that prospect. And Trump on Monday suggested that he planned to push forward with the submarine sales. "We are doing that,” Trump said in response to a question about expediting the sales.

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"We have the best submarines in the world, anywhere in the world, and we’re building a few more, currently under construction. And now we’re starting, we have it all set with Anthony,” Trump said. “I think it’s really moving along very rapidly, very well."

Still, Trump suggested he was unlikely to offer Australia tariff relief, which Canberra has sought as a nation that runs a trade deficit with the US. Trump hit Australian goods with a baseline 10% tariff. "Australia pays very low tariffs — very very low tariffs," Trump said.