Albanese’s patience and planning appear to have paid off

October 21, 2025 — 3.48pm

Well, that went well. Despite months of naysayers predicting embarrassment or worse, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has undoubtedly scored a major success in obtaining a renewed commitment from US President Donald Trump to AUKUS and a multi-billion dollar deal for our rare earth minerals.

Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump have signed a major critical minerals deal.Credit: AFP

Apart from the odd phone call, the two leaders had passed like ships in the night at two international meetings and Albanese had to wait 10 months for his first in-person bilateral with Trump.

But Albanese’s patience and planning appears to have paid off handsomely, with both men effusive in their praise of each other and commitment to their joint interests.

Albanese and Trump signed a “framework” for co-operation on the production and processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements to combat China’s global dominance in the sector. Under the terms of the deal, Australia and the US will invest $4.7 billion over the next six months, which is expected to result in projects worth around $81 billion. The US also agreed to construct a new refinery in Australia that is expected to extract 100 tonnes per year of the critical mineral gallium.

The AUKUS partnership with the US and the United Kingdom, which is estimated to cost Australia $368 billion, has come under fire at home and been the subject of reviews in London and Washington. Trump startled Canberra earlier this year when he appeared unfamiliar with AUKUS, but his renewed commitment to the AUKUS partnership augers well.

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While it is good to have clarity on AUKUS, a big question mark remains over whether the US will honour the deal’s first pillar and provide Australia with Virginia-class submarines when crunch time comes. Despite Trump’s endorsement, a no-show definitely remains a major risk.

Admirably, Albanese appears to have dealt with Trump with consummate skill, but the president continues to wrong-foot the federal opposition.

Former Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s strategy to ape Trump conspicuously failed to cut through. And since their election disaster, the Liberals and their media urgers have tried to distract from the party’s turmoil, frequently sneering at Albanese’s failure to secure the meeting. Liberal leader Sussan Ley was at it again on Tuesday, jumping the gun and calling for Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, to be removed from his role after Trump clipped him across the ear for his ill-advised social media posts years ago.

It was certainly an awkward moment. Call it Trumpian theatre. In any event, it was leavened later by reports that when the cameras left, the pair kissed and made up, leaving the Liberals baying at the moon.

Meetings between prime ministers and presidents are often remembered for sideshows: Harold Holt’s cloying “all the way with LBJ” in 1966 and Jimmy Carter’s 1977 failure to remember Malcolm Fraser’s name still echo down the years.

It would be a shame if the Trump/Rudd faux feud cast shadows over Albanese’s true White House achievements. He deserves to be alone in his moment in the limelight.

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