US signs $8.5 billion deal with Australia

The United States and Australia have signed an agreement to increase the supply of rare earths and key minerals. According to the agreement, the two countries will jointly invest about $8.5 billion in projects and this move could bring major changes to the mineral extraction and processing sector.
The British media outlet BBC reported this information in a report today, Tuesday (October 21).
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that about $8.5 billion will be invested under this agreement and it will increase Australia’s mining and processing capacity.
According to the initial structure of the agreement, the two countries will invest $1 billion in new projects in the United States and Australia over the next six months. Basically, the two countries have been working on cooperation in this sector since Trump’s first term. However, Albanese said that this new agreement will ‘take the bilateral partnership to new heights’.
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said that the joint ‘Acus’ submarine deal between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia is also ‘moving forward at full speed’.
Earlier, the Trump administration said the deal would be reviewed to see if it was consistent with its ‘America First’ policy. At the time, it was thought that Australia might not be able to buy submarines from the US. However, Trump later said that the country would get the submarines.
According to the BBC, China currently controls 70 percent of the world’s rare earth minerals and 90 percent of their processing. These minerals are considered critical components in everything from defense equipment to computer chips and cars.
And many US companies rely on Chinese supplies to buy these minerals. And that puts them at risk. This risk has increased, especially after new US tariffs and moves by China to restrict supplies due to trade tensions between the two countries.