China responds to US-Australia critical minerals partnership agreement

The agreement between the U.S. and Australia to partner on developing supplies of rare earths and critical minerals amid trade tensions with China, the world’s leading supplier, prompted a response from the Chinese government.

The U.S.-Australia deal was signed by President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday at the White House after China announced export controls on rare earths earlier this month.

“The global industrial and supply chains came into shape as a result of the choices of the market and businesses,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told FOX Business in a statement. 

“Countries with mineral resources need to play a positive role in keeping relevant industrial and supply chains safe and stable and to ensure normal trade and economic cooperation,” he added.

TRUMP, AUSTRALIAN PM SIGN $8.5B CRITICAL MINERALS DEAL TO COUNTER CHINA DOMINANCE IN RARE EARTHS

Australia's Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump at a signing ceremony

President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese signed the rare earths cooperation agreement on Monday. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Rare earths are used in a range of applications and are a critical component in consumer-oriented devices like smartphones and electric vehicle batteries, and are also used in military equipment like radars and cruise missiles.

China is the world’s leading producer of rare earths and has the largest reserves, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

MAJOR US STEELMAKER PIVOTS TO RARE EARTH MINERALS AS CHINA TIGHTENS GRIP

China's Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump shake hands

Rare earths have become a prominent point of contention in the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

The USGS found that in 2024, China’s mines produced 270,000 tons of rare earths and the country has 44 million tons of reserves.

By comparison, the U.S. produced 45,000 tons of rare earths and had 1.9 million tons of reserves, while Australia produced 13,000 tons and had 5.7 million tons of reserves.

TRUMP APPROVES ALASKA PROJECT FOR MINING CRITICAL MINERALS: WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE?

mining facility

China is the world’s leading miner of rare earths and critical minerals. (Bert van Dijk/Getty Images)

According to a document outlining the agreement released by the White House, the U.S. and Australia each committed to invest $1 billion over the next six months in mining and processing projects, as well as to set a minimum price floor for critical minerals.

The two countries also agreed to cut permitting for mines, processing facilities and related operations to boost production of rare earths and critical minerals.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The deal also calls for cooperation between the U.S. and Australia on mapping geological resources, mineral recycling and efforts to stop the sale of critical mineral assets on national security grounds.

Source link

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

Mineral of gold from Australia on display in Paris, France

Chinese woman indicted for theft of gold nuggets from museum in Paris

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Chinese woman was indicted by a judge in Paris for allegedly stealing nearly $2 million worth of gold nuggets from the city’s National Museum of Natural History, including items dating back to the California gold rush.  The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday that the 24-year-old

Invesco China Technology ETF 200 Day Moving Average Chart

Invesco China Technology ETF Experiences Big Inflow

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the Invesco China Technology ETF (Symbol: CQQQ) where we have detected an approximate $330.2 million dollar inflow — that’s a 12.7% increase week over week in outstanding units (from 47,350,000 to 53,350,000). Among the largest underlying

NSA headquarters

Beijing blames US for cyber campaign targeting its national timekeeping network

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! China’s spy agency accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of hacking its national time service, alleging a yearslong cyberespionage campaign that targeted the system keeping official Beijing Time — a backbone for China’s telecommunications, finance and defense sectors. The Ministry of State Security claimed the NSA

Admiral Mike Rogers was simultaneously director of the National Security Agency and the US Cyber Command.

How disruption could help countries such as China and Russia exploit cybersecurity flaws and affect the internet

“The fact that China has penetrated those telecommunication networks so broadly for such an extended period of time” means Beijing could identify who is under espionage investigation and understand intelligence-gathering methodologies, he said. Most concerning is the shift from espionage to disruptive attacks. CyberCX says that over the past 18 months, nation-state actors, notably Iran,

As China vs Europe battle over chip company Nexperia escalates; Nexperia's China unit tells employees in Netherlands: Remember you are Chinese company and ...

As China vs Europe battle over chip company Nexperia escalates; Nexperia’s China unit tells employees in Netherlands: Remember you are Chinese company and …

Employees at the Chinese operations of Netherlands-based Nexperia have reportedly been instructed to reject orders from Dutch headquarters, deepening a corporate standoff amid geopolitical tensions over semiconductor supply chains. Citing an internal memo made public, Financial Times reported that Nexperia’s China unit has directed local staff to operate independently and reject instructions from the company’s

Unitree’s new Go2 robot dog. Photo: Handout

China’s Unitree builds course for students to learn how to train, understand robot dogs

Unitree Robotics has launched an education platform for students to train robot dogs and understand how they operate based on the start-up’s Go2 system, as adoption of these quadruped machines expands from enthusiasts to mainstream consumers. According to its social media post on Tuesday, Unitree has developed an in-person training course with ready-to-use tools that