Australia should adapt its financial statecraft strategy to suit the emerging environment. It should build a more resilient financial system with better crisis response mechanisms; better integrate government departments to facilitate financial warfare operations; and work with regional partners to improve its response time during crises. What’s happening with financial warfare internationally reflects aspects of Fabian warfare, named after the Roman general Fabius Maximus, who wore down Hannibal through delay, disruption and exhaustion rather than direct battle. The Critical Minerals Office and initiatives such as the US–Australia Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact are building supply partnerships. Global powers have used economic warfare tactics against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, initially causing a decline in Russia’s GDP.