President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals agreement at the White House, with Albanese calling it an $8.5 billion “pipeline that we have ready to go.”
Trump said the accord had been negotiated over “four or five months,” adding that “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.”
The signing formalizes cooperation to boost US access to Australian rare earths and other critical inputs as Washington works to cut reliance on Chinese-linked supply chains.
The signed framework sets a joint plan to secure reliable supplies of critical minerals and rare earths for defense and advanced industries, with the two governments aim to build diversified, liquid, and fair markets by leveraging existing US stockpiling tools and Australia’s strategic reserve, while tapping current operations and new capacity planned to come online in 2026.
Within six months of the signing date, each country will take measures to provide at least $1 billion in financing to qualifying projects that deliver end products to US and Australian buyers. The governments will jointly select priority projects, mobilize public and private funding through guarantees, loans, equity, insurance, offtake finalization, and regulatory facilitation, and convene a Mining, Minerals and Metals Investment Ministerial within 180 days.
They will accelerate permitting, explore standards-based price systems that can include price floors, strengthen national security reviews of asset sales, invest in recycling and scrap management, cooperate on geological mapping, engage third parties where appropriate, and stand up a Rapid Response group led by the US Secretary of Energy and Australia’s Minister for Resources to identify vulnerabilities and speed delivery of processed minerals.
Authorities will conduct post-project analysis, with either party able to request a meeting and receive it within 10 days, and either may discontinue participation with 30 days written notice.
The framework is programmatic and non-binding and creates no legal rights or obligations.
Canberra paired the pact with fresh defense industrial support, reiterating an A$2 billion contribution to expand US submarine shipyards under AUKUS, and pitched Washington on preferential access to a planned A$1.2 billion critical minerals reserve aimed at speeding offtake deals for allies.
The reserve has been under active design in recent weeks, with officials consulting miners on a structure that emphasizes forward sales of production rather than a large physical stockpile. Australia’s task force is working toward operational readiness after scope and design are finalized. 
The minerals push follows a month of meetings in Washington and New York where more than a dozen Australian mining companies engaged US agencies. Executives said the US government is exploring equity or equity-like stakes in select producers to secure supply.
The deal lands as Beijing expands rare-earth export controls that have hit magnet flows and heightened supply-chain risk for Western manufacturers. G7 finance chiefs last week vowed a united response and supplier diversification as controls broadened to additional elements and technologies. 
Australia is positioning its producers to fill the gap. Lynas Rare Earths this year became the first commercial producer of separated heavy rare earths outside China after initiating dysprosium oxide output.
Information for this briefing was found via Bloomberg and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
