Quad countries join forces to secure critical minerals
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Hello and welcome to World Business Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Sam Fennick. Coming up today, UK bonds and the pound tumble after a tearful appearance of the Finance Minister Rachel Reeves in Parliament. The fact is Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast. The US, Japan, Australia and India agree a landmark minerals deal to secure vital supplies and reduce dependence on China.

Women's football takes centre stage as the Euros kick off in Switzerland. We'll hear about the atmosphere. They've all got their blue shirts on, there's face paint, flags, balloons. There's a real party atmosphere here. And we'll be discussing the continued rise of women's football and the business around that.

First, though, the United States, Japan, India and Australia are joining forces to secure supplies of critical minerals essential for the next generation of technologies.

The four nations have launched the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, aiming to diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on China, which dominates global reserves of things like cobalt, lithium and rare earths. Here's the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. There are many topics that we can work on and focus on. One that I've personally been very focused on is diversifying the global supply chain of critical minerals, not just access to the raw material.

but also access to the ability to process and refine it to usable material. It's critical for all technologies and for all industries across the board.

So this new initiative comes as demand soars for minerals used in things like electric cars, semiconductors and clean energy wind turbines. But for years, China has dominated the mining and processing of these minerals. So can that dominance really be changed? Let's talk to Roe Darwin, chief executive of the International Council on Mining and Mining.

So, Ro, thanks for coming on. What practical impact then can this alliance really have at reducing China's dominance in the market?

Sam, it definitely changes the mood music, but nobody's dancing yet because we haven't seen much detail behind this commitment from the leaders to diversify and make their supply chains more resilient. So companies aren't going to be rushing to make new investments just off the back of this announcement, because what we need to see is for governments to put measures in place that help companies make these investments to diversify away from China.

Now, there's no reason why China has a natural advantage in either mining or processing. Anyone could set up these facilities, especially for rare earths, which are widely distributed. It's simply that until now in the West, we haven't had the will to do so. And I hope that this announcement changes that.

And partly that's been because the processing and the mining of these minerals, but especially the processing, it's filthy dirty, isn't it? It's hugely polluting. And I just wonder what you would need to do to process this kind of stuff in the US or in other countries away from China, because so far, you know, we've turned a blind eye, haven't we, to that? And that's why China has partly gained some of this dominance.

Look, it used to be dirty business, but with new technologies, it isn't that way anymore. Many of these smelters and refineries are some of the most high-tech operations in the world where very few people have to work because they're highly automated. They control their emissions into the air, into water. And so with the latest technology, I think most countries would welcome them because they do bring good jobs and they pay significant taxes. And of course, they have a benefit

for the supply of minerals that they produce. What it's going to take is for governments to get behind the industry in a way they haven't done before. So just as we're sitting here and talking today, Sam, and this was announced, a smelter in Australia, the Mount Isa smelter,

is about to close down, not because it can't run, not because it doesn't want to, but because it doesn't make commercial sense for it to do so, because the price it would get for the product it produces is way too low to make sense for the company to keep running it. So they're asking for governments to step in, in the form of subsidies, in the form of a minimum support price, or other ways that would incentivize the company to keep that smelter running. So the solution's right there if we want it.

Or just explain the cost of it a bit more for us, because as we've just been saying, we need all of these sort of minerals for our green energy transition. So why on earth couldn't that smell to make it work?

Because the smelter essentially has to pay a charge to the miner to process the ores that they're getting. And when the mine supply is tight, as it is right now, the smelters have to compete to get it. Therefore, they lower their prices. And as they lower their prices, their margins fall to zero or in some cases even to negative.

That's because, Sam, around the world, there is an oversupply of this smelting and refining capacity. That might surprise people that we actually have an oversupply. The reason we have an oversupply is because China dominates the majority of it. And the Chinese smelters don't need to make money because they receive subsidies from the state. So the Western smelters, who essentially paid the same price as the Chinese smelters, they're left to defend for themselves without state support.

And therefore, China continues to dominate because their smelters continue to be subsidised. That's why Western governments are going to have to step in. So and that's the kind of subsidies, the kind of stepping in that you want to see? Yes. Subsidies are one option.

option, a minimum support price, which basically says we will buy your product at X price. So you can be guaranteed to make that much money irrespective of where the global price goes. That's another way to support these facilities. Another way would be to give them cheap financing. Another way would be to speed up the permitting. So it takes less cost and time to produce and develop these operations. And of course, you could also have governments directly investing in these facilities as they would in another infrastructure project.

OK, Ro, thank you very much for that. Ro Darwin there, Chief Executive of the International Council on Mining and Minerals. Let's have a chat now with Ronan Murphy. He's head of base metals at Argus Media. He's a pricing expert, monitors the pricing of these sorts of critical minerals. It's volatile at best at all times, isn't it? Has this announcement had any impact on the price of some of these minerals that we're talking about?

Hello. No, it hasn't, is the short answer to that. And to be honest, this isn't the first kind of announcement of this kind. There was a kind of a G7 critical minerals action plan announced in June. All of these countries, they know they need more critical mineral supply. They all have their own national schemes in place where they've pledged billions of dollars.

But this is all very much in the long term. In the short term, this has no real material impact on metal prices. So Roe was saying that the mood music is a positive step with the mood music, but people are not dancing yet, at least his members. Are you dancing today, Ronan, or are you hanging off?

before you start diving i would absolutely agree with him i but i think what we have seen definitely in the last six months or so we've seen an acceleration of um of initial interest and commitments from governments and certainly from export credit banks development banks to uh to support critical minerals projects especially in the railroad space um but

The actual translation of that to firm financing commitments still isn't quite there yet. And I think part of that is part of that is down to the the slight irony that the kind of kind of the trade war that was kicked off this year.

and all of the volatility around that has actually created a more uncertain trading environment. It's created a lack of visibility and clarity on what the state of play is going forward. So that in itself kind of offsets any kind of drive from whether it's the US or the EU or the Asian countries outside of China to really forge forward and get private sector investment into these markets because they don't know what the actual economic

situation is going to be in the medium term. Okay, well, thank you very much for that. Ronan Murphy there, Head of Base Metals at Argos Media. They monitor the prices of things like lithium, nickel and cobalt.

In the UK, government bond markets have just seen their sharpest one-day sell-off since a major fiscal crisis in 2022, which forced the resignation of the then Prime Minister. Today's news has come after the Labour government reversed a series of welfare cuts, raising concerns over future public spending and debt.

The U-turn has been debated in Parliament today, Wednesday, where the UK's Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, appeared visibly upset and was seen wiping away tears. Now, this followed a series of questions from the opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, who said this. Labour MPs, Labour MPs. Yeah, she looks absolutely miserable. Labour MPs.

They can point as much as they like. The fact is Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast. And the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post till the next election. Will she really?

Well, let's talk now to Danny Hewson. She's head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. So emotional scenes in the House of Commons there, as we heard. They really spooked the market. Run us through what the impact has been over the last couple of hours.

Yeah, markets were really spooked, as you've said. What we've seen is both the FTSE 250 and the FTSE 100 slumping after those scenes in Parliament. We've seen the pound sliding by more than 1% against the US dollar and also by 0.8% against the euro, striking its lowest level since April, of course, when we had all that disruption from Donald Trump's tariffs. But

But it's the guilt yields that have been particularly impacting and really sort of reminiscent of what we saw following that Liz Truss mini budget back in 2022. Liz Truss was the former prime minister we mentioned a moment ago. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Yeah. Now, a spokesperson for Rachel Reeves says that she was upset by a personal matter. But how significant do you think is that market reaction that you've just described?

What was significant was looking at the fact that the anticipation that perhaps she might lose her job with Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister here in the UK, not initially backing her to remain in post, suggests that financial markets actually favour her staying in post. But what has happened since then is that they're now taking a long look at what might happen next.

We know that what's happened with this vote on the disability reforms mean that there is now a potentially a black hole that Rachel Reeves is going to have to fill some way. So we are in a situation potentially where

where the Chancellor, if she remains in post come the autumn, may have to look to borrow more if she doesn't want to raise taxes or to cut things further. And certainly looking at what's happened over the last few days, it suggests that Labour backbenchers don't want any further cuts.

So she's kind of caught between a rock and a hard place, which is why we've seen the cost of government borrowing jump significantly because, of course, investors are going to ask for a premium if they're concerned that that debt is potentially going to go up. And when we're in a situation like this, there are lots of comments that potentially this could be the start of another fiscal crisis for the UK. Thank you very much, Danny Hewson there, talking to us from AJBank.

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Now, the US President Trump's massive, big, beautiful bill has scraped through the US Senate and now faces a rocky path in the House of Representatives. The sweeping tax and spending package passed after a marathon overnight session with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

The bill might have secured the politicians' votes, but what about ordinary people? For families like Bertha Bradley, the stakes are really high. She's a worker leader with the Union of the Southern Service Workers in Durham in North Carolina. If this ugly bill passes, I will be without any kind of health care.

And also, my grandson wouldn't be able to get the health care that he gets, and he lives with me. And, you know, I have hearing aids. I need to get hearing aids. And I can't get the hearing aids because Medicaid don't want to pay for what I need right now. And then with the shot that I need, it costs $3,000.

If they cut that, that's going to put my health in jeopardy because I can't afford it. I'm not one of them billionaires, these corporate people that has all this money. I can't afford to shop. So I'm going to have to try to figure out a way to just maintain my health. If it means I might have to go back to the old-fashioned way of making up herbs and things to try to keep my health and keep myself going. Nice.

Matthew Bartlett joins us now. He's a Republican strategist and served as a Trump appointee at the State Department during the president's first term. Now, a lot of people, Matthew, won't they? They will share Bertha's worries, won't they? How does the Republican leadership plan to sell these measures to voters worried about losing services like Medicaid?

Well, happy to join you, Sam. Thank you.

a raising of taxes across the board on all Americans. So this is what the Republican House and Senate is largely doing with this bill. In addition, what they have done through the expansion of Medicaid, there's been obviously one of the biggest drivers of the debt. There's a notion that if you are able-bodied and able to work, that you either should be able to volunteer

or prove that you are looking for work, I believe, on a six-month basis, so twice a year. These are the work requirements. They were originally proposed back in the old 90s in the Clinton days. So this is a way of trying to bring some fiscal restraint to the problem or to the program rather.

And not be disruptive to the public. But it will be really stressful for those people who get that money, won't they? Because they'll be worried now that they're going to lose that. And I just wonder how the Republican Party squares that with the electorate.

I mean, again, we are $36 trillion in debt. I think the argument is we need to make some precautions to ensure that these programs are there for the most vulnerable and the needy.

And that is why having a work requirement, if you're able-bodied, again, a check twice a year to either have you volunteer in your community is probably one of the best ways in ensuring that, again, these programs are there for those who truly need it. So no one has lost any coverage yet. The bill is certainly not yet passed.

Certainly can understand some caution. Of course, the alternative is that if there is not some sort of fiscal sanity or restraint, these programs will go bankrupt and many, many more people will be severely hurt.

I just want to ask you about some breaking news that we are hearing about, that Donald Trump has announced that the US has agreed a trade deal with Vietnam. Mr. Trump says that he'll announce details later on today. What do you think about that?

In some ways, a bit of a surprise. In other ways, not a surprise at all. Vietnam was rumored to be very high on the list of a deal with the United States, in part because their tariffs are already very, very low. I think more than anything, this is certainly symbolic.

as we approach the July 9th deadline that Trump had stated, President Trump had stated around his tariffs. Let's remember when he paused or pumped the brakes on these tariffs, he said he was going to have 90 deals in 90 days. We are nowhere near that. We've got a lot to do in the next few days, haven't we?

And again, there are a lot of conservatives who believe that this is central planners. This is not free market principles. So now establishing a deal will hopefully lead to either more deals, an extension on these, further credibility to the administration on a very controversial new policy around trade with these tariffs.

Matthew, we will leave it there. We will obviously be talking a lot more about Trump's trade deals in the coming days here on the programme. But for now, Matthew Bartlett, Republican strategist, thank you very much.

Now let's talk about the Women's Football European Championships, which kick off in a few hours' time in Switzerland. Emily Sally is the BBC Sport journalist who's enjoying the atmosphere for today's game. Finland versus Iceland. I'm in the town of Thun in Switzerland for the very first game of Euro 2025 between Iceland and Finland today.

Thun is a really stunning town. There's a castle on top of the hill. The river is bright blue and there's snow-covered mountains in the distance. So it seems the perfect place almost to kick off Euro 2025. I'm currently in the fan zone in Thun and there's plenty of Iceland fans. There's some Finland fans too, but the Iceland fans are definitely outnumbering them. They've all got their blue shirts on. There's face paint, flags.

Balloons. There's a real party atmosphere here and the Iceland fans have already been doing their famous thunderclap celebrations to get in the mood. And very shortly, both sets of fans will be doing a march towards the stadium. And I think that's just the perfect way to get Euro 2025 up and running.

Emily, Sally reporting for us there. Well, whilst there's fierce competition on the pitch, it's also a major boost for women's sport as a growing commercial powerhouse. There's record sponsorship deals for this tournament, rising TV audience, sold-out stadiums, and they highlight the momentum that is getting behind women's football. Let's talk now to Jenny Haskell. She's head of Deloitte's sports business group. It's a global auditing and consultancy firm.

Jenny, how does the commercial landscape for women's football, how has it changed over the past few years as it's built up to these Euros?

I think it's been really exciting. I think the development of commercial partnerships has increased definitely across the board. And we're starting to see a bit more of what we call non-endemic brands entering the space. So brands that haven't traditionally invested or supported sport, but are now heavily involved in women's sport. And that might be because they can reach a different or targeted audience more

with women's sports fans, or that might be because they can activate differently. And so we're starting to see kind of that distinct environment for commercial partners when it comes to women's sport. So, I mean, if you look at the sponsorship deals that are for this Euros event, you've got Adidas, you've got Amazon, you've got AXA, Booking.com, EA Sports, Heineken, Hoblot, PlayStation, Visa, that's just naming a few of them. And

Previously, brands like that might want to get involved with women's sport for their kind of social responsibility, kind of showing that they are supporting it. But now the sport seems to be getting bigger. So you don't have that kind of attitude towards the brand. They're actually wanting to get involved because the crowds are bigger.

Exactly. And it's a great business decision to get involved. I think we're starting to see now this cycle of major brands, like you just mentioned, investing in women's football and starting to see that return on investment from a monetary perspective and business objectives perspective grow.

but also a return on their, like I said, objectives. So they're starting to see that value alignment with the fans of women's sport and women's football and seeing that recognised in their own values, their own sponsorships more broadly. I think people will always say, though, won't they, that it's still not as big as the men's game. Is it a fair comparison to make the commercial value of those two games?

I think as the women's game continues growing, we're starting to see even more value being built. And so I think that comparison is sometimes a bit misaligned to where men's and women's sport actually is in their professionalization journeys. But I think what is very clear is that we're seeing this growth across women's football and that we're seeing more fans engage

and engaging a different set of fans. So we're seeing more digitally native. We're seeing younger fan bases that are really, really engaging with women's sport and women's football. And that is just another opportunity for brands to get involved. Jenny Haskell, thank you so much. Enjoy the tournament. I'll let you get off because it's going to kick off shortly and I'm sure you'll be wanting to watch it as we all are here in the studio.

Now, how much cash do you have in your pocket right now? And do you ever stop to look at the faces printed on your banknotes? Well, one person who always enjoys counting his money is the BBC's personal finance reporter, Kevin Peachey. And on UK notes, Kevin, there are some notable things.

faces, aren't there? There are. What an introduction. On Bank of England Notes, we've got Winston Churchill, of course, author Jane Austen, the artist J.M.W. Turner and the wartime codebreaker Alan Turing. They're all honoured on the current series. And we've had historical figures on Bank of England Notes since 1970. So here's your little quiz. Sam, are you ready? Who was the first in 1970? I'll give you a clue. They have to be dead.

And also he wrote Neither a Borough Nor a Lender Be. Oh, is that Dickens? Close. Good effort. William Shakespeare. Oh. Who else has been on Bank of England banknotes since 1960? I'm tempted to say Emmeline Pankhurst. Think of the other side.

Oh, oh, oh, I don't know. Go on. It's the monarch. Oh, of course. So Queen Elizabeth II and now King Charles III. But not every banknote in the UK has the monarch. Why not? I don't know. Scotland and Northern Ireland issue their own notes. I feel like I'm under pressure. Well, I'm afraid that's the end of the quiz and you've scored a big fat zero. So no pounds for you.

Now, some notes from around the world are incredibly colourful, aren't they? Yes, they are. They're described as little pieces of art in our pockets, which is a lovely idea. And the reigning international banknote of the year, well, that's the Bermuda $5 note, which is predominantly pink. It's got the

blue marlin on it, dolphins, tuna, butterflies, a bay, boat and a bridge. So there's plenty on there. And previous winners from the Philippines, the Eastern Caribbean note, one of my favourites, had one of the greatest cricketers of all time, of course, in Sir Vivian Richards featured on that one. So there are lots and lots of different notes with lots and lots of different styles. Now we're talking about this today, Kevin, because the

Bank of England is going to redesign some of the UK notes. Why are they doing that? Yeah, they're often updated and that's because of anti-counterfeiting, of course, and, you know, serious issues, new security features and so on. But what the bank's intending to do is the biggest facelift for more than 50 years. It's opening up the idea of different themes rather than those historical characters. So it could be asking the

It could be things like nature, the arts, landmarks, events in history, innovation. And it's asking the public for their ideas of those themes. But potentially it opens up the idea of maybe seeing something like, I don't know, Windsor Castle, fish and chips, or dare we say it, the BBC World Service. I might do better. I might do better in attesting these maybe slightly more modern designs of notes. Now, a lot of those, though, Kevin, are not really using cash anymore, are we? Is cash still circulating? I think.

It is still circulating and it's still there for people who want and need it. And there are still plenty of transactions and the bank saying it will supply it for all those people who still see it as important. Kevin Peachey, the BBC's personal finance reporter. Thank you very much for coming on the programme and talking to us about that today.

The producer today was Haider Saleem. You can always get a podcast of the programme. Search for World Business Report wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sam Fennec. Please join me again at the same time tomorrow.