Nikko Riazi | Australian Foreign Policy Fellow Image sourced from Matthew de Livera via Unsplash On 10 November, China’s suspended export controls are due to return. When they last applied, they added five rare earth elements to China's licensing regime and extended it to foreign-made products containing Chinese-origin rare earths, putting allied manufacturers at the mercy of one supplier. Australia is rolling out a critical minerals reserve that could ease that pressure, but it has not...

Mia Ruddock | United States Fellow Image sourced from Thomas K on Pexels On 8 September 2026, United States (US) President Donald Trump announced that the US will ban Canadian dairy products, alcoholic beverages, and motorcycles. As the latest in a series of escalating trade hostilities between the neighbouring countries, the US and Canada are now locked in a trade war. The White House claims this trade war is about “ending Canada’s free ride”. For Canada, which Trump has repeatedly referred...

Genevieve Phillips | South Pacific Fellow Image sourced from Defrino Maasy via Pexels The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) is one of the most ambitious experiments in regional institution-building that the Blue Pacific has attempted in generations. It is designed as a Pacific-owned, Pacific-led, and Pacific-managed whole-of-response mechanism to reduce dependence on slow, complex, and often conditional external aid. But, by the time Pacific leaders gathered for the Pacific Islands Forum...