Republican seeks agreement with other countries to reduce China’s dependence on rare minerals; Brazil has the 2nd largest global reserves
The bilateral meeting between the president (PT) and the president of the United States, (Republican), (26.Oct.2025) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Designed to stop the White House’s tariff escalation, the meeting aims to reach a trade agreement that could involve an issue dear to North Americans: rare earths.
The Trump administration is looking for ways to reduce dependence on China – a set of elements vital to the technology industry used in the production of electric vehicles, smartphones, LED televisions and others. The Asian country currently has a monopoly in the sector with the largest mining and refining capacity and the largest global reserves. Brazil comes next, and the USA is keeping an eye on this spoils.
In an interview on Tuesday (Oct 21), the vice-president and minister of Industry, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), confirmed that the United States is pushing for access to Brazilian rare earth reserves.
“The discussion is already part of the economic dialogue between the 2 countries. Both seek to expand cooperation in areas of energy, innovation and sustainability”the interim president told Record News.
An agreement in this sense appears to be the shortest path for Planalto to overturn the additional 40% tariff imposed by the White House on Brazilian products, applied due to the US government’s dissatisfaction with the legal process against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
It was added to the 10% base already charged on Brazilian imports, bringing the total tariff to 50%. The Lula government has repeatedly said that the political and judicial issue that motivated Trump’s decision is outside trade discussions.
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China currently controls around 90% of rare earth processing and announced at the beginning of the month the processing of these minerals.
The US says the decision violates global trade rules and threatens the application of one on all Chinese products. Both China’s restrictions and the new U.S. rate are scheduled to come into effect on November 1.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in South Korea on Thursday (Oct 30) and intend to end the trade war, but even an agreement does not move the White House away from the objective of diversifying its supply chains.
The idea is to depend less on China, which has, by far, the largest global production.
Before the bilateral between Xi and Trump, the Chinese government will have negotiations with the European Union on rare earths. The European bloc, as well as the USA, are trying to reverse the restrictions, in force since April, so as not to harm the automotive, military and aviation industries.
China’s control over most rare minerals has raised alarm bells in Washington. In March, Trump published a decree to increase North American production of critical minerals. The country’s reserves, however, are scarce.
The solution is to seek agreements with other countries. The 1st of these was during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the White House on Monday (Oct 20). The Oceanian country has the 4th largest global reserves of rare minerals.
Brazil, 2nd in the rankingcould be the next North American target. The partnership in the sector was discussed between governments before the tariff escalation and should return to the negotiating table in Malaysia – or in the future, if the meeting is not held in Kuala Lumpur.
