Australia digs a lot of things out of its vast land mass — the country’s map might as well be the periodic table, its ambassador to the United States likes to say.

澳大利亚从其广袤的国土中开采出大量资源——正如该国驻美国大使常说的，澳大利亚的地图几乎可以看作是一张元素周期表。

That includes the rare earth metals that now are at the center of escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. China dominates the mining and supply of the minerals, which are critical for most modern industries including renewable energy, car manufacturing and defense.

其中就包括目前处于华盛顿与北京之间日益加剧的贸易紧张关系核心的稀土金属。中国在这些关键矿物的开采和供应方面占据主导地位，而这些矿物对于包括可再生能源、汽车制造和国防在内的大多数现代工业至关重要。

On Monday, President Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia announced an agreement between their countries, which are longstanding allies, to pour billions of dollars into joint ventures on critical minerals, including rare earths. Their goal is to shake China’s vise grip on the global supply of those metals.

周一，美国总统特朗普与澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯宣布，两国这一对长期盟友达成了一项协议，将共同投入数十亿美元用于关键矿产（包括稀土）的联合项目。此举旨在打破中国对全球这些金属供应的铁腕控制。

Here is how the partnership could shift the picture on the global trade on rare earths.

以下是这一合作伙伴关系可能如何改变全球稀土贸易格局的方式：

Why Australia?

为什么是澳大利亚？

Australia is estimated to have at least five percent of the world’s reserves of rare earths and accounts for roughly 8 percent of global production.

据估计，澳大利亚拥有全球至少5%的稀土储量，约占全球稀土产量的8%。

But the tricky part with these elements is less about digging them out of the ground, and more about the technological capacity to process them and the environmental degradation the process can entail, if not done carefully. They occur in low concentrations, and are chemically challenging to isolate.

但这些元素的棘手之处，与其说是开采过程本身，不如说在于加工处理的技术能力，以及如果处理不当可能带来的环境破坏。这些元素在自然界中浓度较低，且在化学上难以分离。

And despite being essential, the metals are needed in very small quantities. That makes it less likely to be economically viable for private companies to invest in developing the expertise needed for their production.

尽管这些金属至关重要，但在各类产品中实际所需数量却非常少。这使得私营企业投资开发其生产所需的专业技术在经济上难以实现。

位于澳大利亚西部韦尔德山的一处稀土矿。预计澳大利亚拥有全球至少5%的稀土储量。

What Australia does have is a robust mining sector, one of the main drivers of its economy, and the expertise and industry built around it. Australia has 89 active rare earth exploration projects, far more than any other country, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

澳大利亚拥有强大的采矿业——这是其经济的主要驱动力之一——以及围绕这一产业建立起来的专业知识和成熟体系。根据战略与国际研究中心的数据，澳大利亚目前有89个活跃的稀土勘探项目，远超其他任何国家。

How soon could we see results?

多快能看到成果？

President Trump said on Monday that in a year’s time, “We’ll have so much critical minerals and rare earths that you won’t know what to do with them.”

特朗普总统在周一表示，一年之内，“我们将拥有如此之多的关键矿产和稀土，你们甚至不知道该怎么处理它们。”

But finding geological deposits of rare earths is just the start.

但找到稀土的地质矿藏仅仅是个开头。

Obtaining permits for a new mine is often time-consuming, and then building a mine can take several years. Setting up a refinery to separate rare earths from ore also takes years. Then comes a period of gradually mastering the extremely difficult chemical processes required for separation.

获得新矿的开采许可往往耗时漫长，而建设一座矿山也可能需要数年时间。随后，还需要数年时间来建立冶炼厂，以从矿石中分离出稀土元素。随后还需经历一段逐步掌握化学分离所需的极其复杂工艺的过程。

In the agreement announced Monday, the U.S. and Australian governments said they would each invest $1 billion in the next six months toward creating a pipeline of critical mineral projects in both countries.

在周一宣布的协议中，美国和澳大利亚政府表示，未来六个月内将各自投资10亿美元，用于在两国推进一系列关键矿产项目的储备。

Mr. Albanese’s office announced financial commitments in two projects on Australian shores. One is a rare earths mine in the Northern Territory that his office said would contribute up to five percent of global supply. The other is an investment in a gallium project in Western Australia, expected to eventually produce a tenth of the world’s supply of the metal, which is used in specialized semiconductors needed for transmitting data along fiber optic lines.

阿尔巴尼斯的办公室宣布了在澳大利亚境内两个项目的资金承诺。其中一个是位于北领地的稀土矿项目，其办公室称该项目将贡献全球稀土供应量的5%。另一个是对西澳大利亚州镓项目的投资，预计最终将生产全球镓金属供应量的10%。这种金属用于制造光纤线路数据传输所需的专用半导体。

The agreement also says the governments will intervene if projects are not commercially viable. China has in the past flooded the global market with rare earths to drive down prices and drive competitors in other countries out of business.

协议还指出，如果项目在商业上不可行，政府将进行干预。过去，中国曾通过在全球市场大量倾销稀土，压低价格，从而迫使其他国家的竞争对手退出市场。

How will this figure into geopolitics?

这将如何影响地缘政治？

Australia is one of America’s closest allies and collaborating on countering China’s dominance in rare earths will draw them closer together. The future of that relationship has appeared less than solid in recent months, with a president in the White House who has wavered between skepticism and outright disdain for allies. Mr. Albanese’s office said the agreement with Washington was not legally binding or enforceable.

澳大利亚是美国最亲密的盟友之一，双方在抗衡中国对稀土资源主导地位方面的合作将使两国关系更加紧密。过去几个月，这段关系显得并不稳固，因为现任总统在对待盟友时的态度时而怀疑、时而轻蔑。阿尔巴尼斯办公室表示，此次与华盛顿达成的协议并不具有法律约束力，也无法强制执行。

At the same time, Australia’s economy remains incontrovertibly tethered to China, which buys a third of all its exports, mainly iron ore and coal but also agricultural products like wine and beef. Its mining sector is even more enmeshed with Beijing, which accounts for three-quarters of Australia’s iron ore exports.

与此同时，澳大利亚的经济仍然无可争议地依赖中国，中国购买了其三分之一的出口产品，主要是铁矿石和煤炭，同时也包括葡萄酒和牛肉等农产品。澳大利亚的采矿业与北京的联系更加紧密，中国占其铁矿石出口的四分之三。

Last month, Chinese state media warned Canberra over its security cooperation with the United States, saying it will not tolerate “infringements on its core interests.”

上个月，中国官方媒体就澳大利亚与美国的安全合作向堪培拉发出警告，称中国不会容忍“对核心利益的侵犯”。