The Albanese government says it will use a critical minerals reserve as leverage with the Trump administration over tariffs, as the mining industry warned that establishing the stockpile could push down commodity prices.
The opposition was ambiguous towards the proposal to establish the reserve, with Peter Dutton saying “we’re not supporting the plan because it is a refit and rehash and reannouncement with no delivery”. But he went on to support the concept. “Critical minerals are absolutely essential for us and for our partners and whether that looks like an offtake agreement or whether it looks like an agreement to stockpile it to work with the US, in the UK, in Japan, etcetera, we will work all that detail in government.”
Resources Minister Madeleine King stressed that the reserve was a long-term measure designed to safeguard supply for Australia and its allies, but, as an additional benefit, access to the reserve would be put on the table as part of tariff negotiations with the Trump administration.
For the rest of this article: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/minerals-reserve-to-be-used-as-leverage-with-trump-foreign-investors-20250424-p5ltwv