At G7, EU leaders tackle dependence on China for minerals

G7 host France is pushing partners to agree on a declaration on critical minerals on Wednesday that could include measures to help the West reduce its dependence on China and protect investors from countermeasures and dumping, diplomats said.

Leaders will discuss securing mineral supply chains, a central theme of France’s G7 presidency, as well as a broader effort to address global economic imbalances on the final day of the June 15-17 summit in Evian-les-Bains.

China spooked the global economy last year when some industries nearly ground to a halt after Beijing imposed restrictions on exports of permanent magnets made from rare earths – an episode that highlighted how dependent Western supply chains in the energy, defense and technology sectors are on these products.

“We are negotiating important texts on critical minerals and, therefore, on economic sovereignty,” a French presidency official said before the summit.

Measures discussed in recent months included price supports, market standards, subsidies and guaranteed purchases, as well as ways to increase private investment in critical minerals supply chains outside China. However, all the measures announced at the G7 will probably only constitute a first step.

Overreliance on China could be destabilizing

The 2025 restrictions were the latest in Beijing’s gradual tightening of its exports of niche materials and battery metals. It also limited American companies’ access to tungsten and antimony, among other things.

Western powers are working to secure mining and build up their processing and recycling capabilities, but it will take years to shake China’s dominant position, which took decades to build.

The United States proposed a trade bloc for critical minerals in early 2026. However, countries disagree on how this bloc could work, particularly in the context of the White House’s “America First” agenda.

G7 leaders will also discuss how to rebalance global trade and combat “predatory competition”, mainly from China. France summarizes the imbalances as follows: China produces too much, the United States consumes too much and Europeans invest too little.

Concern is growing in Europe over China’s record trade surplus and its move up the value chain, in what analysts describe as a “second China shock” after its dominance of low-value industries in the 2000s.

French President Emmanuel Macron sought to engage China before the summit in a final effort at cooperation. Beijing rejects EU allegations of unfair subsidies and has repeatedly promised “strong” countermeasures to the EU’s proposed Buy Europe plan and revised technology sovereignty rules.

EU leaders will separately discuss stricter and more systematic use of trade defense measures against China’s growing imports at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Last year, the EU recorded its largest trade deficit with China, of more than 360 billion euros.

“This is obviously not sustainable. As you know, in Europe our strategy is very clear: reduce risks and not decouple,” the president of the European Commission told journalists at the start of the summit.

G7 leaders will also discuss AI over lunch on Wednesday, including the accountability of robots and agents, and how AI presents what is true and false. OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are expected to attend the luncheon.

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