Australia will look to tempt Europe with vast stores of critical minerals to revive free trade talks stalled over prosecco and feta naming rights.
The Albanese government is adamant the European Union must drop its demand for Champagne-style protections on Australian-made products that also include mozzarella and parmesan.
Trade Minister Don Farrell insists the deal would dramatically improve European access to Australia's critical minerals and rare earths, which are used to build batteries, computer chips and solar panels.
Senator Farrell said while Australia would not withhold supply, it would be easier for European businesses to access critical minerals as the world tries to divest from a Chinese monopoly.
"One of the advantages to us in these negotiations is the amount of critical minerals that Australia has," he told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"When you have a free trade agreement it's a lot easier to get access to our markets."
Australia has some of the world's largest deposits of cobalt, lithium and manganese.
The government is positioning itself to drastically boost the sector, with China processing the vast bulk of critical minerals and importing almost all of Australia's lithium.
Senator Farrell said Australia needed more foreign investment to grow the emerging industry.
"We have got a lot of minerals - what we don't always have is the investment capability to extract those minerals," he said.
"We'll be looking to the Europeans to work with them to do that and that's getting to be a lot easier if we've got a free trade agreement."
Australia is also looking to the United States for greater investment in the sector.
Intellectual property law expert Mark Cohen said it was difficult to compete with China's low-cost processing and mining of critical minerals, which dominate supply chains for technologies such as electric vehicles.
Mr Cohen there was still a need for American lithium to be processed overseas, which could see Australia become a major partner in the sector.
Aspen Security Group executive director Anja Manuel said Australia would also be able to increase co-operation with the US public and private sectors, as the White House worked to ensure allies had secure supply chains not beholden to China.
Australia's manufacturing investment fund has set aside billions of dollars for domestic producers to value-add onshore, including in the resource and renewable energy sectors.
