G-7 Agrees to Swiftly Address Rare Earth Supply Issue

Washington, Jan. 12 (Jiji Press)–Finance ministers from the Group of Seven major industrial nations at a meeting in Washington on Monday agreed to quickly take measures to enhance supply chains for rare earth minerals. Hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the meeting among Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union came at a time when China is tightening controls on rare earth exports to Japan and the impact of the Chinese measure is feared to spread across the world. From Japan, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama attended the meeting. Officials from resource-producing countries, such as Australia, also took part. Katayama held a bilateral meeting with Bessent. The Japanese minister told the G-7 meeting that Tokyo has strongly protested to China and urged the country to lift the rare earth export restrictions. In talks with reporters after the meeting, she said that the Japanese side obtained understanding from other participants for the efforts to “speedily lower dependence on China for rare earth supplies.” “I was pleased to hear a strong, shared desire to quickly address key vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains,” Bessent posted on X, formerly Twitter, playing up the outcome of the G-7 meeting. The Chinese government has been raising pressure on Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks last November on a possible contingency over Taiwan. Beijing banned dual-use goods exports to Japan earlier this month. The G-7 members and other countries that rely on China for rare earth supplies aim to strengthen their unity against Beijing’s trade weaponization. At the Washington meeting, the G-7 ministers and others also discussed setting floor prices for rare earths in response to oversupply from China. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]