Officials from the U.S. and Australia agreed Nov. 17 in Singapore to increase cooperation on the supply of rare earth minerals, which are important for the production of clean energy technologies such as electric cars.
The U.S. is eager to reduce its dependence on China’s rare earth. They agreed to work with Australia, the world’s second-largest producer of the important minerals after China.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, the Minister of Trade, Travel, and Australian Investment, with officials from Singapore and New Zealand also present.
At the meeting, the four sides agreed to continue to step up efforts to build a resilient supply chain and to continuously promote investment in infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region.
They also discussed ways to expand economic cooperation between the partners.
During bilateral negotiations, it was suggested that China has more lax labor and environmental oversight compared to Western countries.