US vows speedy delivery of AUKUS submarines, rare earths deal signed
Washington: Donald Trump said he plans to accelerate the AUKUS defense deal to give Australia nuclear-powered submarines after Anthony Albanese received a warm welcome at the White House.
The prime minister and the US president also signed a rare earths agreement aimed at ensuring stable supplies of critical minerals at a time when China is trying to tighten its grip on global supply.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump shake hands after signing a rare earth minerals agreement during a bilateral meeting at the White House.Credit: Getty Images
Anthony Albanese received a warm welcome at the White House.Credit: Bloomberg
Asked whether he knew the details of the Biden-era trilateral security agreement and whether he would abide by it, the US president said he would do so.
“This took a while and nobody did anything about it,” Trump said. “It was going very slowly. We actually have a lot of submarines, the best submarines anywhere in the world.”
“We’re building a few more that are currently under construction and we’ve got everything set up now… Anthony and I worked long and hard on this. We’re starting that process right now. I think it’s going really well, very quickly.”
Asked if he could guarantee Australia would get the boats, Trump said: “Oh, they do.”
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There was an awkward moment when Trump was asked about the nine-month wait for the meeting and whether it had anything to do with Kevin Rudd’s old tweets about the president.
