The Group of Seven announced on Friday more than twenty new projects aimed at changing China's dominance in critical minerals supply chains, with the aim of finally restoring balance in the global market.
• Also read: G7 to create 'alliance' to counter Chinese dominance in critical minerals
• Also read: Rare earth elements: Japan and US agreement to “secure” their supply
The agreements, announced following a meeting of G-7 energy ministers in Canada, cover various base metals as well as rare earths, a sector in which China has major influence.
These first steps taken by the new G7 Critical Minerals Alliance “send a very clear signal to the world,” Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson told reporters.
“We are serious about reducing market concentration and dependencies,” he added, referring to China.
Ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States met in Toronto days after Washington and Beijing agreed China would suspend certain export restrictions on rare earth metals for at least a year.
The latter make it possible, in particular, to produce magnets necessary for the automotive, electronics and even weapons industries. The prospect of export curbs by China, which dominates the sector, has rattled markets.
Tim Hodgson acknowledged that expanding supply chains will take time.
The goal, he said, is to build systems that go “from the mine to the magnet.” “This doesn’t exist in the West today (…) It will take time.”
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters the Trump administration is on the same page as its G7 allies in countering Chinese influence. According to him, “there are no disagreements within the group.”
“We need to create our own capacity to mine, process, purify and produce rare earth elements,” he added.
China, he said, “used methods contrary to market rules to drive the rest of the world out of producing these products.”
