Washington| Trade Minister Dan Tehan wants the US government to change its trade finance rules to help pay for critical minerals projects and other strategically sensitive investments in the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s dominance and further rare earth shortages following Russian sanctions.

Mr Tehan is in Washington to meet officials from the Export Import Bank and the US Development Finance Corporation – the two equivalent agencies of Export Finance Australia that financed Telstra’s $US1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) buyout of Papua New Guinea-based telecommunications company Digicel Pacific last year.