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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Nicki Hutley

Don’t believe the hype: why Australian taxpayers should be wary of the critical minerals deal with Trump

Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the US president, Donald Trump, after signing the critical minerals deal. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Critical minerals, once the domain of white-coated science nerds, have recently burst into our daily news headlines courtesy of Anthony Albanese’s visit with Donald Trump earlier this week, where a framework was signed to support increased investment in Australian critical minerals projects.

Much like the fictional unobtanium in Avatar, critical minerals, as the name suggests, are of huge economic and strategic importance. So, ensuring the supply chains needed to produce mobile phones, renewable energy technology, electricity grids, defence equipment and AI is considered a national security priority by many nations.

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