A newly surfaced photograph from Donald Trump’s White House meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir has drawn fresh attention to the high-profile talks, capturing the leaders presenting rare earth minerals to the US President.
The image, taken inside the Oval Office, shows General Munir pointing towards an open wooden box containing the minerals while Trump looks on. Standing beside them, Sharif appears with a faint smile, highlighting the symbolic exchange during the meeting.
Sharif, the first Pakistani prime minister to visit the White House in six years, and Munir held discussions with Trump on Thursday. Notably, Munir had already met Trump in June during a rare one-on-one meeting. Thursday’s session lasted nearly ninety minutes and also included US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In a statement issued by his office, Sharif praised Trump as a “man of peace,” commending his “courageous and decisive” role in brokering a ceasefire between Pakistan and India. He also thanked the U.S. President for the tariff arrangement finalised earlier this year, under which Washington imposed a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistani imports while agreeing to assist in developing Pakistan’s oil reserves.
Expressing optimism, Sharif said he believed the Pakistan-U.S. partnership would continue to grow stronger under Trump’s leadership. He extended an invitation to American companies to invest in key sectors, including agriculture, information technology, energy, and mining.
The meeting marked a significant shift in bilateral relations, which had endured years of strain before gradually improving in recent months.
US Interest in Pakistan’s Minerals
The talks coincided with growing U.S. interest in Pakistan’s vast mineral reserves. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Frontier Works Organisation, the country’s largest critical mineral miner, signed a memorandum of understanding with Missouri-based U.S. Strategic Metals. The agreement includes plans to establish a poly-metallic refinery in Pakistan.
U.S. Strategic Metals specialises in producing and recycling critical minerals, which the U.S. Department of Energy has classified as essential for advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies.
In addition, Pakistan’s National Logistics Corp signed a separate deal with Portuguese engineering and construction giant Mota-Engil Group.
According to Sharif’s office, discussions with delegations from both U.S. Strategic Metals and Mota-Engil centred on Pakistan’s copper, gold, rare earths, and other mineral assets. Both sides expressed readiness to boost mineral processing capacity, develop value-added facilities, and launch large-scale mining projects.
