G7 Critical Minerals Deal Will Seek to Address China’s Non-Market Practices, Energy Minister Says

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Oct 30, 2025 - 11:03 Updated: Oct 30, 2025 - 10:56
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G7 Critical Minerals Deal Will Seek to Address China’s Non-Market Practices, Energy Minister Says

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G7 countries are set to announce a critical minerals pact this week aimed at countering China’s market-distorting practices, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says.

Hodgson and Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin are hosting a two-day G7 meeting of energy and environment ministers in Toronto this week. Hodgson said a critical minerals pact, set to be unveiled on the second day of the meeting, Oct. 31, will aim to strengthen supply chains and reduce reliance on China.
“You should expect the G7 to focus on any critical mineral where we believe there is general non-market activity, non-free trade type activity to restrict and constrain a normal supply chain,” Hodgson told The Globe and Mail in an interview.

“On Friday, you’ll see mechanisms around several of those critical minerals, and you should expect to see that continue over time.”

The upcoming pact builds on a pledge by G7 leaders at their annual summit in Canada earlier this year to develop an action plan to create “resilient critical minerals supply chains governed by market principles.”

“We recognize that non-market policies and practices in the critical minerals sector threaten our ability to acquire many critical minerals, including the rare earth elements needed for magnets, that are vital for industrial production,” the leaders said in a June 17 joint statement.

“Recognizing this threat to our economies, as well as various other risks to the resilience of our critical minerals supply chains, we will work together and with partners beyond the G7 to swiftly protect our economic and national security.”

Allied countries have in recent years raised concerns over China’s dominance in the production of critical minerals, which are key for a wide range of industrial sectors, including high-tech and defence.
China had become the world’s leading refiner by 2023 of key minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, natural graphite, and rare earth elements—refining more than 90 percent of global rare earth materials and producing about 69 percent of the world’s rare earth output.

Beijing earlier this month introduced tighter export controls on rare earth minerals amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States. President Donald Trump criticized the move, calling it “hostile” and accusing China of using rare earths as leverage in trade disputes.

“This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World ... I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move,” he wrote in an Oct. 10 statement on Truth Social.

“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least.”

China’s move prompted the European Union to pursue cooperation with the United States and other G7 countries to respond to Beijing’s tighter controls on rare earth exports.

Hodgson said Canada intends to be a leader in securing critical mineral supplies for its allies to reduce dependence on China.

“What you will see on Friday is a number of concrete announcements demonstrating that a multilateral approach to securing supply chains and energy supplies works,” he said.

“We will see this week many examples of us moving beyond talks to firm commitments to fund several types of tools [to secure critical minerals].”

Reuters contributed to this report.
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