Trump Signs Critical Minerals Deal With Australia

• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the deal represents a pipeline of critical minerals and rare earths worth $8.5 billion ready to go.
• The agreement with Australia comes amid a flare-up in tensions with China after the Xi Jinping administration announced export controls on rare earth minerals.
• Australia holds the fourth-largest deposits of rare earths in the world, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed a critical minerals deal with Australia at a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House.

The agreement with Australia comes amid a flare-up in tensions with China after the Xi Jinping administration announced export controls on rare earth minerals.

Pipeline Worth $8.5 Billion Ready To Go, Says Albanese

While signing the agreement with President Trump, PM Albanese stated that the deal represents a pipeline of critical minerals and rare earths worth $8.5 billion ready to go. He also praised the economic and defense cooperation between the U.S. and Australia, adding that they are “taking it to the next level” with the rare earths and critical minerals deal.

Australia holds the fourth-largest deposits of rare earths in the world, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Trump Says Agreement On Critical Minerals Negotiated Over 4-5 Months

President Trump stated that his administration is doing a “real job” on rare earths and “many other things” with Australia.

“We're going to be here to talk about lots of different things... we are discussing critical minerals, and rare earths, and we're going to be signing an agreement that's been negotiated over a period of 4 or 5 months.”

— Donald Trump, U.S. President

Trump Praises Australia As An Ally

During the joint address with PM Albanese, President Trump praised their partnership and said, “We’ve been really an amazing ally.” “There's some games with other countries, but there haven't been games with Australia,” the U.S. President added.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities rose in Monday morning’s trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.95%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) surged 1.28%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) gained 0.92%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘extremely bearish’ territory.

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