Russia's Putin offers US aluminium, rare earths deal

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has offered the US the opportunity for joint exploration of the country's rare earth metals deposits, as well as the supply of aluminium to the US domestic market, outlining a future economic deal between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump earlier said that "major economic development transactions with Russia" would take place. Within two hours of Trump's statement, Putin chaired a meeting on Monday with his ministers and economic advisers on rare earth metals.

"We, by the way, would be ready to offer our American partners, and when I say 'partners,' I mean not only administrative and governmental structures but also companies, if they showed interest in joint work," Putin said on state TV after the meeting.

"We undoubtedly have, I want to emphasise, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine," Putin added.

He mentioned that a potential US-Ukraine deal involving rare earth metals is not a concern for Russia.

He noted that Russian companies could supply up to 2 million tons of aluminium to the US market annually if the US market reopens. Russia used to provide around 15 percent of US aluminium imports before prohibitive duties were introduced in 2023.

"This (Russian aluminium supplies) will not significantly affect price formation. However, in my opinion, it would still have a restraining influence on prices," Putin said.

Hydropower generation

Putin suggested that Russia and the US could work jointly on hydropower generation and aluminium production in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, which is the home base for Russia's largest aluminium maker, Rusal.

"What is most important, in my opinion, is that we could consider working together with American companies in this area," Putin concluded.

In a transcript posted by the Kremlin, Putin said rare earths were a priority sector for Russia's economic development and competitiveness.

Putin said the government sought to "boost the potential of the domestic industry", extending from extraction to "manufacture of ready-made high-technology goods."

"Based on the results of the national project, the volume of output of such goods should increase several times over," he said.

Putin also said he is ready to discuss defence budget cuts with the US, proposing a 50 percent cut for both countries to ease global military tensions.