Albanese Arrives in the US Bearing Rare-Earth Gifts

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese landed in Washington for a White House meeting with Donald Trump a full 10 months after the president’s inauguration.

He’s about to find out whether it was worth the wait.

Albanese follows a string of counterparts in trying to shore up ties with the US while avoiding a blowup with the president.

He’s hoping that presenting his nation’s mineral wealth as a solution to China’s export controls can cement ties with Australia’s main security ally, and its unpredictable leader.

A gypsum pond at the Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Australia, on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. Lynas Rare Earths explores and mines for rare earth minerals such as cerium and neodymium. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg — A gypsum pond at the Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Australia.

Albanese will aim to use the sit-down to secure an agreement with the US on critical minerals. He’s also expected to seek assurances on the administration’s commitment to the Aukus pact under which the US will help supply Australia with nuclear submarines.

The Labor Party leader will be aiming to lure US investment into Australia’s resource sector without public humiliation, for example, being pressured to spend more on defense.

It’s a delicate diplomatic dance: While Australians remain pro-US alliance, they are anti-Trump and worried about the outlook for American democracy.

Equally, Canberra can’t go too far in visibly bandwagoning with Washington against Beijing as China is still by far Australia’s largest trading partner. Albanese was in Beijing in July for his second visit since taking office, with a broadly positive reaction from China.

However, despite an improvement in China ties from the nadir hit during the pandemic, there’s still a series of points of friction, including over Chinese displays of military muscle.

Investors have been optimistic that Canberra and Washington would seriously discuss Australia’s ability to deliver shipments of rare earths and help the US develop its own capacity, with China’s latest export controls helping push the US to commit.

But as with all White House visits for non-MAGA aligned leaders, how it turns out is a lottery. — James Mayger

Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister, during an address at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Albanese has named Jenny Wilkinson as the new secretary to the Treasury. Photographer: Hilary Wardhaugh/Bloomberg — Albanese at the National Press Club in Canberra in June.

Global Must Reads

Israel said it had resumed a truce with Hamas in Gaza after heavy fighting over the weekend, with the sides accusing each other of breaching a deal Trump brokered. At least some aid supplies have resumed, though the key border crossing of Rafah remains shut. Israel launched strikes and suspended aid shipments yesterday after blaming the Iran-backed militant group for an ambush that killed two soldiers in southern Gaza.

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will sign a coalition deal with Ishin, according to the smaller party’s leader, setting up Sanae Takaichi to become the country’s first female prime minister. The new alliance would give the LDP a more closely aligned partner on many policies compared with its former ally, the centrist Komeito party.

Sanae Takaichi, newly-elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), speaks during a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. Japan’s ruling party elected right-leaning Takaichi as its first female leader today, in a vote that is also likely to determine who will become Japan’s next prime minister. Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg — Takaichi.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the war with Russia should be frozen along current lines before the two sides can enter peace negotiations, even as Vladimir Putin continues to demand that Ukraine cede its entire Donetsk region in the east to Russia. European Union energy ministers agreed a joint position on plans to ban all gas supplies from Russia by the end of 2027, as the bloc looks to definitively end its reliance on energy from Moscow.

Trump accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being an “illegal drug leader,” adding the US will halt all aid to the country and impose fresh tariffs in a dramatic escalation of tensions with one of Washington’s closest security partners in Latin America. Petro responded that Trump was being “deceived” by advisers and that he has done more than any other leader to expose links between traffickers and Colombia’s elite.

South Africa intends to revive a modular nuclear-reactor program and step up its reliance on gas to generate electricity, according to a new energy-policy blueprint. The plan approved by the cabinet last week envisions achieving energy security by bolstering nuclear and gas while reducing dependence on coal by more than half to 27% in what the energy minister said yesterday was the biggest investment program of the post-apartheid era.

Vapor rising from the chimneys of the Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Kusile power plant in Mpumalanga, South Africa, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. A rare moment of investor goodwill for South Africa’s most indebted company is being tested by its inability to collect a staggering $5 billion in unpaid bills from cities and towns across the country. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg — The Kusile coal-fired power plant in Mpumalanga, South Africa, in January.

Senator Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia’s presidential runoff yesterday to end some 20 years of socialist rule, pledging to repair relations with Washington and curb spending to address the deepest economic crisis in four decades.

Chilean ultra-conservative presidential candidate José Antonio Kast would cut $21 billion in government expenditures — including $6 billion in the first 18 months — if elected, according to his economic adviser.

Pakistani and Afghan officials agreed to an immediate ceasefire during negotiations in Qatar’s capital after tensions escalated earlier this month and clashes turned deadly.

Cheng Li-wun, a former Taiwan lawmaker who has advocated closer ties to China, won the contest to become the leader of the island’s biggest opposition party, the Kuomintang.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship Neom project is part of a colossal program to reshape Saudi Arabia’s economy — but not everything is going to plan. Bloomberg reporters answer your questions at 8 a.m. Eastern Time today.

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Chart of the Day

China said the economy is still on track to reach this year’s expansion target of about 5% even after reporting the weakest pace of growth in a year. The latest official snapshot of the economy marks the start of a high-stakes week for China as top leaders gather in Beijing at the so-called fourth plenum to hash out development plans for the next five years. And with US tensions erupting anew, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia this week to prepare for a meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping later in October.

And Finally

More than a quarter century after ethnic Albanians and Serbs fought a war in Kosovo, 5,000 NATO troops are still deployed to keep the peace. Now it’s experiencing fresh strains as Prime Minister Albin Kurti sets about forcefully consolidating the nation — by building not one but two bridges over the diminutive Ibar River in Mitrovica, itself a city synonymous with division. Bridge building is normally associated with bringing sides together. Not in deeply riven Kosovo, where Kurti’s plans have caused an uproar, and upset international allies who keep the Balkan nation afloat.

Thanks to everyone who answered Friday’s quiz question, and congratulations to Stephen Markscheid, who was first to correctly identify the US as the country where a senior cabinet member, Scott Bessent, lashed out at a Chinese government official, calling him unhinged.

Global Must Reads

Chart of the Day

And Finally

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