The United States and Japan signed on Tuesday a framework agreement to support the mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earths, as they seek to counter the dominant Chinese share of the market for minerals crucial for the defense, automotive, electronics, and energy industries. Visiting U.S. President Donald Trump signed the rare earths deal with the newly elected Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, praising the strong U.S.-Japanese alliance. The White House said that the deals, plus the trade deal from earlier…