US, Australia sign key minerals agreement in strategic move vs China
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US President Donald Trump and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sign an agreement on rare earth and critical minerals during a meeting with in the Cabinet Room at the White House, in Washington, DC, US, October 20, 2025. — Reuters
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US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a strategic deal on critical minerals on Monday, aimed at countering China, in a meeting that also saw Trump take a dig at Australia’s former US ambassador for earlier criticism.
China loomed large in the first White House summit between Trump and Albanese, with the US president also backing a strategic nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia to boost security in the Indo-Pacific.
As Trump and the Albanian greeted each other warmly, the US president spoke about past criticism of the former prime minister, Australian-US Ambassador Kevin Rudd. In 2020 Rudd called Trump “the most destructive president in history”, later deleting the social media comment.
Trump said he was not aware of the critical comments and asked where the envoy is now. Looking at him across the table, Trump said, “I don’t like you either, and I probably never will.”
The visit otherwise went smoothly, with the Albanians and Trump signing a minerals deal that Trump said had been negotiated in recent months. Albanese described it as an $8.5 billion pipeline “that we’re ready to go.”
A copy of the agreement, provided by the prime minister’s office, said the two countries would invest $1 billion in mining and processing projects over the next six months, as well as set a minimum price floor for key minerals, something Western miners have long sought.
A White House statement on the deal added that the investments would target $53 billion worth of key mineral deposits, although it did not provide details on what types or locations.
“A year from now, we’ll have so many critical minerals and rare earths that you won’t know what to do with them,” Trump told reporters.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which serves as the U.S. government’s export credit agency, is issuing seven letters of credit to finance mineral projects between the two countries totaling $2.2 billion, the White House statement added, though it did not provide details.
Additionally, the Pentagon plans to build a gallium refinery in Western Australia. China halted gallium exports to the United States last December.
The US is looking to expand its access to key minerals around the world as China moves to control global supply.
Trade tensions between the US and China have escalated ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea next week.
The term critical minerals applies to a range of minerals, including rare earths, lithium and nickel.
According to data from the US Geological Survey, China has the world’s largest reserves of rare earths, but Australia also has significant reserves. The mineral is used for products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radar.
Trump signals support for submarine deal
Albanians were welcomed by Trump on the $368 billion ($239.46 billion) AOX deal, which reached 2023 under then-President Joe Biden. Under the deal, Australia is to buy US nuclear-powered submarines in 2032 before building a new class of submarines with the UK.
Although Trump is keen to leave behind Biden-era policies, he has signaled his intention to back the Akos submarine agreement, after his team launched a review of the deal over concerns about the United States’ ability to meet its own submarine needs.
Navy Secretary John Phelan told the meeting that the U.S. and Australia were working closely to refine the original ACOS framework for all three parties “and clarify some of the ambiguities in the earlier agreement.”
Trump said these were “just minor details”, adding that “there shouldn’t be any further details, because we’re just – we’re just moving forward, moving forward.”
Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Australian officials emphasized that their country is paying its way under ACOS, contributing $2 billion this year to boost production rates at U.S. submarine shipyards, and preparing to maintain U.S. Virginia-class submarines at its Indian Ocean naval base from 2027.
A 10-month delay in a government meeting since Trump took office caused some concern in Australia as the Pentagon urged the Australian government to increase defense spending. The two leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.
The rare earths deal comes a week after U.S. officials called China’s expansion of rare earth export controls a threat to global supply chains.
Resource-rich Australia, seeking to extract and process rare earths, has priority access to its strategic reserve on the table at US trade talks in April.
As part of the rare earths deal, Trump and Albanese agreed to reduce permits for mines, processing facilities and related operations to increase production.
The agreement calls for cooperation on geological resources, mineral recycling and efforts to prevent the sale of key mineral assets “on national security grounds”.
It was an oblique reference to China, which has bought the planet’s major mining assets over the past decade, including the world’s largest cobalt mine in the Congo, from US-based Freeport-Macurran FCXN in 2016.
