Trump, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sign agreement on rare earth minerals

President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday signed an agreement on rare earth minerals at the White House.

Trump and Albanese signed the agreement at the start of their meeting on Monday, with the president telling reporters that it had "been negotiated over a period of four or five months," NBC News reported.

"We got it done just in time for the visit," Trump said. "And we work together very much on rare earths, critical minerals and lots of other things, and we’ve had a very good relationship. We’ve been working on that for quite a while."

Albanese said that Australia has an $8.5 billion pipeline "ready to go" for the deal.

Australia has the minimum tariff rate of 10%. When asked on Monday if the U.S. plans to lift the tariffs, Trump touted his general trade policies and then said, "I will say this, Australia, pays very low tariffs, very, very low tariffs. Australia pays among the lowest tariffs."

Albanese’s office said Sunday that he and Trump are also expected to discuss defense cooperation, Indo-Pacific stability, and the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

AUKUS is a $240 billion trilateral security deal whereby Australia would buy U.S. nuclear-powered submarines in 2032 and then build a new submarine class with the United Kingdom.