President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday inked an agreement to invest billions of dollars in rare earths and critical minerals in an effort to counter China’s control on global markets.
“In about a year from now, we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earths, you won’t know what to do with them,” Trump said during the signing at the White House.
The deal is significant given Australia is the biggest producer in the world of lithium, a silvery-white metal needed to make electric vehicle batteries and other electronic devices. The country also has sizable rare earth deposits.
The agreement, Trump said, was months in the making. It was preceded by buzz among both top officials and mining companies. It’s not clear how the agreement affects the 10 tariffs that Trump imposed earlier on Australian exports.
