#Japan, #France and #Canada work on alternatives to #US-led trade bloc for #RareEarth supplies
Group of Seven members Japan, France and Canada are working on alternatives to a U.S.-led trade bloc to secure critical minerals and reduce reliance on China, according to three senior officials from these countries.
Some options include import quotas on certain rare earths, subsidies for mining companies to diversify the supply chain on critical minerals, and a buyers’ club,a Canada-led G7 initiative that aims to develop a reliable supply chain of critical minerals outside of China and break that country’s monopoly on these metals.
Rare earths are difficult-to-extract metals used in cell phones, EVs, and high-tech weapons. China currently controls over 90% of these metals and imposed export controls last year in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
Japan has asked its manufacturing industries to strike commercial deals with rare earths projects that it has funded with allies such as France, Australia, and Canada.
“They might not be the cheapest, but now that the industry understands the balance of risk and price, it is not a bad idea to use those projects,” Hatada explained.
Benjamin Gallezot, France’s interministerial delegate for supplies of strategic minerals and metals, told Reuters the U.S. proposal is one way to diversify, “but there are other ways to do it.” “There will not be a general policy, that is our view. Second, it has to be built and discussed between a large number of countries, not only the G7, but G7 plus.”
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