An American-Australian agreement on rare earths and optimism about an agreement with China economy

US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed an agreement on rare earth minerals and critical minerals on Monday at the White House, while Trump expected that a fair trade agreement would be reached with China.

Trump said that negotiating the agreement with Australia took 4 or 5 months, adding that he would also discuss trade, submarines, and military equipment with Albanese.

Trump intends to accelerate the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, signaling his willingness to ease tensions with Beijing and push for stronger defense ties with a key ally in the Indo-Pacific region.

This comes in the midst of an ongoing confrontation between China and the United States, at the heart of which are rare minerals, as Beijing announced that it would impose restrictions on their export, which prompted Trump to announce 100% tariffs to be implemented starting next November.

Trump expected to reach a fair trade agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, announcing that he would visit China early next year at the invitation of Beijing.

He added to reporters at the White House: “I received an invitation to visit China, and I will do so relatively early next year. We have tentatively set the date.”

Potential damage to global growth

In this context, Director General of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said last Friday that she hopes that the United States and China will reach an agreement that will avoid stopping the flow of strategic minerals to the global economy, adding that the restrictions will have a “tangible impact” on growth.

Georgieva said – in a press conference during the annual meetings of the Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington – that the scenario of stopping the flow of these metals will exacerbate the state of uncertainty and harm the already weak global growth picture.

She added: “There is still a sense of anxiety, because the global economy is performing less than we need, and because there is a very dark cloud of uncertainty still hanging over our heads, and uncertainty is now the new normal.”