G7 Energy Ministers to Address China's Critical Mineral Dominance
TORONTO: The issue of curbing China's dominance over critical minerals will be a top priority at the upcoming G7 energy ministers' meeting in Canada. This gathering aims to address concerns among industrialized democracies about securing reliable access to resources essential for future technologies.
The Group of Seven, which includes the United States under President Donald Trump's administration, has expressed alarm over China's control over the supply of minerals used in everything from solar panels to precision missiles. Recently, Trump announced a rare earths deal with China after meeting with President Xi Jinping in South Korea, stating that the agreement would last for a year and be renegotiated annually.
At a summit held in western Canada in June, G7 leaders launched a “Critical Minerals Action Plan.” This initiative focuses on diversifying supply chains to support shared national and economic security interests. The upcoming two-day meeting in Toronto presents a significant opportunity to advance this plan, according to Tae-Yoon Kim, head of the critical minerals division at the International Energy Agency.
“The high concentration of critical minerals refining in a single country creates economic and national security risks,” Kim said in an email. He urged the G7 to start shifting market power and avoid a similar supply shock as seen with oil in the 1970s.
Hinge Moment for Global Energy Policy
A central complaint about China’s conduct is that it does not adhere to market principles. While multiple countries have substantial mineral reserves, China's true dominance lies in its processing and refining capacity, especially for rare earths, which are crucial for making specialized magnets used in various high-tech products.
Since a significant portion of materials moves through Chinese-controlled businesses, Beijing can build stockpiles and control global supply. Canada’s energy ministry stated that the Toronto meeting should include announcements aimed at countering manipulation of the global critical minerals market.
Abigail Hunter, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, highlighted that for decades, they have faced a competitor consistently distorting free markets, using industrial subsidies, creating overcapacity, and undermining fair trade.
For Canada’s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, the G7 meeting comes at a “hinge moment,” as noted by his spokesman Gregory Frame. At the meeting, Canada will announce the first deliverables reached under a new alliance that will help ensure the minerals that underpin future industries can be mined, refined, and produced by countries that share their values.
Traceability and Supply Chain Security
Hunter pointed out that within the G7 — comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States — there are contrasting energy policy priorities. The Trump administration, in particular, is seen as less concerned about the transition to clean energy.
G7 unity on critical minerals may also be undermined by Trump’s protectionist trade policies, which have caused global economic upheaval. However, G7 energy ministers are united in concern about the “security of supply,” as China imposes more serious rare earth export controls.
For Hunter, progress at the Toronto meeting would include concrete action on the issue of traceability — tracking raw materials from mining to refinement and ensuring suppliers follow global market rules. She noted that “opaque” Chinese-controlled companies exist across the supply chain, which the G7 should strive to “box out of the market” with new policies on traceability and transparency.
“I’m really interested to see what they do on that,” she said, adding that processing still includes a “spider web of entities” where Chinese officials maintain outsized control. “We have a short window of opportunity to fix this. The window is still open — it’s just very, very small.”
“I’m an optimist. I have to be, because this sector is very painful at times.”