With an eye on China, US and Australia sign critical minerals agreement

Washington, Oct 21 (IANS) The United States and Australia have signed a critical minerals agreement, days after China announced new export controls on rare earth minerals, magnets and other products.

President Donald Trump hosted Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House on Monday, where both leaders signed the mineral deal.

“We work together very much on rare earths, critical minerals and lots of other things, and we've had a very good relationship. We've been working on that for quite a while. 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. They’ll be worth $2 billion.” he added.

The Australian Prime Minister also lauded the minerals agreement, saying it will take the bilateral relationship to the “next level”.

In addition, Trump fully endorsed the AUKUS deal, originally signed during the Biden administration, calling it a “deterrent” against China and bringing an end to months of uncertainty following the Pentagon’s internal review.

“It was made a while ago, and nobody did anything about it. It was going too slowly. We do actually have a lot of submarines. We have the best submarines in the world, anywhere in the world, and we're building a few more currently under construction… We have worked on this long and hard, and we're starting that process right now, and I think it's really moving along very rapidly, very well,” he added.

AUKUS (Australia-United Kingdom-United States) is a trilateral defence pact signed in 2021. Under the agreement, the US will supply at least three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the 2030s, followed by joint construction of a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines by Australia and the UK in the 2040s.

Trump also expressed confidence that he could “work out a fair deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their upcoming meeting on the sidelines of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in South Korea.

“We have a very good trade relationship. When we leave South Korea, it could be wrong, but I think we'll end up with a very strong trade deal. Both of us will be happy,” he predicted.

Trump has threatened to impose additional 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese products from November 1 if China goes ahead with its export controls on rare earths.

On concerns about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Trump argued that “China doesn’t want to do that”.

“United States is the strongest military power in the world by far. It's not even close…we have the best equipment. We have the best of everything, and nobody's going to mess with that. And I don't see that at all with President Xi. I think we're going to get along very well as it as it pertains to Taiwan and this. Now, that doesn't mean it's not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don't see anything happening,” he added.

--IANS

scor/dpb