Trump slams yet another country for access to 'rare earths' / 'Minor details' for $240bn nuclear submarine deal
US President Donald Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Cabinet Room at the White House, Washington, on October 20, 2025. PHOTO: Pool/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia
President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed an agreement on “rare earths” and critical minerals on Monday, aimed at ensuring a steady supply of the materials as China tries to tighten its grip on global supplies, Reuters writes.
During their first meeting at the White House, Trump said the deal had been negotiated over the course of four or five months. Albanese described it as an $8.5 billion pipeline “that we have ready to go.”
Full terms of the agreement were not immediately available. The two leaders stated that part of the agreement concerns the processing of minerals. Albanese said both countries will contribute $1 billion over the next six months for joint projects.
The United States has begun seeking access to rare earths and critical minerals around the world as China tightens its grip on global supplies.
China has the world's largest reserves of rare earths, according to US Geological Survey data, but Australia also has significant reserves.
“Minor Details”
The two leaders also planned to discuss the A$368 billion ($239.46 billion) AUKUS deal, concluded in 2023 under Joe Biden's presidency, in which Australia is to buy US nuclear submarines in 2032 before building a new class of submarines with Britain.
Navy Secretary John Phelan told the meeting that the United States and Australia were working very closely to improve the initial AUKUS framework for all three parties (and Japan is a signatory) “and to clarify some ambiguities in the previous agreement.”
Trump said these were “just minor details.”
“There shouldn't be any further clarification because we're going full speed ahead, building,” Trump said.
Australian officials have said they are confident AUKUS will continue, with Defense Minister Richard Marles saying last week he knows when the review will be completed.
Australia's relations with the US and China
Ahead of Monday's meeting between the two leaders, Australian officials stressed that Canberra was paying its share of AUKUS, contributing $2 billion this year to boost production at US submarine shipyards and preparing to maintain US Virginia-class submarines at Australia's Indian Ocean naval base from 2027.
The 10-month delay in a formal meeting since Trump took office has caused some concern in Australia, with the Pentagon urging Canberra to increase defense spending. The two leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York last month.
Australia is willing to sell shares of its planned strategic reserve of critical minerals to its allies, including Britain, Reuters reported last month, as Western governments seek to end reliance on China for rare earths and essential metals.
Last week, senior US officials condemned Beijing's expanded controls on rare metal exports, calling it a threat to global supply chains. China is the world's largest producer of essential materials for products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars.
Resource-rich Australia, keen to mine and process rare earths, put preferential access to its strategic reserve on the table in trade talks with the US in April.
The United States has a large trade surplus with Australia, which is among the countries with the lowest tariffs imposed by the US authorities.
Australia's biggest trading partner is China, with iron ore and coal exports long supporting the national budget, despite the Albanese-led government's efforts to diversify export markets after Beijing's $20 billion boycott of Australian agriculture and coal from 2020 to 2023.
