WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump signed a deal on rare earth minerals with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and said Washington's key ally would get its coveted nuclear-powered attack submarines.
The two leaders met at the White House to concentrate on a pair of areas -- defense and critical minerals -- in which Washington and Canberra are cooperating against what they view as an increasingly assertive China.
Albanese said the rare earths deal would lead to $8.5 billion in critical minerals projects in Australia and take relations to the "next level."
The Australian premier has touted his country's abundant critical minerals as a way to loosen China's grip over global supplies of rare earths, which are vital for tech products.
Government figures show Australia is among the world's top five producers of lithium, cobalt and manganese -- used in everything from semiconductors to defense hardware, electric cars and wind turbines.
China is easily the world's largest refiner of lithium and nickel, and has a near monopoly on the processing of other rare earth elements.
Analysts have said Australia is unlikely to challenge this dominance -- but does offer a reliable, albeit smaller pipeline that lessens the risk of relying on China.
The Australian government said it and the US government would each invest more than $1 billion over the next six months, while the White House put the figure at $3 billion between the two countries.
Albanese had also been pushing for progress on the stalled 2021 AUKUS submarine deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Washington said earlier this year it was reviewing the deal for at least three Virginia-class nuclear attack subs signed under previous president Joe Biden, but Trump promised Australia would get them.
"The submarines that we're starting to build for Australia are really moving along," Trump told reporters as he sat alongside Albanese in the cabinet room of the White House.
"We've worked on this long and hard, and we're starting that process right now. And it's really moving along very rapidly, very well."
The AUKUS deal could cost Canberra up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years. It also includes the technology to build its own vessels in the future.