The President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed on Monday an agreement on critical minerals and rare earths with the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in a move that strengthens the Western axis and confronts the Chinese threat.
According to the White House, under the agreement, the governments of the United States and Australia will invest more than $3 billion in critical minerals projects over the next six months. The deal will be extended with the U.S. Department of Defense investing in the construction of an advanced gallium refinery located in the western part of the oceanic country.
Australia, meanwhile, will invest in defense to strengthen both the U.S. and its own territory. The Western ally will purchase Anduril unmanned underwater vehicles valued at $1 billion, as well as Apache helicopters for $2.6 billion.
"We're going to sign an agreement that has been negotiated over a period of four or five months," Trump explained during the signing of the deal at the White House. "We finalized it just in time for the visit. We're working closely together on rare earths, critical minerals, and many other things. We've had a very good relationship. We've been working on this for some time."
