On 16 September 2026, President Lula da Silva signed Brazil’s National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals, carrying up to R$7 billion ($1.9 billion) in guarantees and tax credits. The policy aims to unlock the largest rare earth reserves outside China, driving investment into expanded production and pushing Brazil’s industry up the value chain into processing.
Australia, with its own rare earth ambitions, could read that as unwelcome competition.
However, Gustavo Pessoa recently argued in The Interpreter that Canberra seeing Brasília as a rival would be short-sighted. Competing on tax concessions, approval timelines and ore prices puts Australia and Brazil in a race to the bottom, handing industrial buyers all the leverage. His solution is a bilateral compact that identifies projects, shares technical expertise and finds customers together, so that neither country ends up a price taker.
That would be invaluable. But Australia and Brazil should go further. Key to avoiding being price takers is to be in the room where the price is constructed. Brasília is potentially a powerful partner to Canberra in ensuring that price represents producers’ interests.
by The Interpreter – How Australia and Brazil could set the terms on critical minerals
