India Invited To G7 Finance Ministers’ Meet On Critical Minerals, Says Bessent
The renewed urgency around critical minerals reflects the group’s heavy dependence on China for materials such as rare earths, lithium, cobalt, graphite and copper.
India has been invited to a special meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies to discuss critical minerals, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington on Monday and will also include Australia and several other countries outside the G7.
Speaking to Reuters, Bessent said he had been pushing for a focused discussion on critical minerals since last summer’s G7 leaders’ summit. Finance ministers had already held a virtual meeting on the subject in December, but the Washington gathering is intended to deepen coordination as supply chain risks intensify.
Bessent said India had been invited but he was unsure whether New Delhi had confirmed its participation. It was also not immediately clear which other non-G7 countries had received invitations. The G7 comprises the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, along with the European Union.
The renewed urgency around critical minerals reflects the group’s heavy dependence on China for materials such as rare earths, lithium, cobalt, graphite and copper — key inputs for defence technologies, semiconductors, renewable energy equipment and batteries.
Last June, G7 leaders agreed on an action plan aimed at securing mineral supply chains and strengthening economic resilience.
Australia’s participation is expected to be central to the discussions. Canberra signed an agreement with Washington in October to counter China’s dominance in critical minerals, creating an $8.5 billion project pipeline and leveraging Australia’s proposed strategic reserve.
The reserve is designed to supply vulnerable metals, including rare earths and lithium, during periods of disruption. Australia has since said the initiative has drawn interest from Europe, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Existing Dominance
China’s dominance in the sector remains significant. According to the International Energy Agency, China refines between 47% and 87% of global supplies of key critical minerals. Western governments have increasingly sought to reduce this reliance, particularly as Beijing has tightened export controls in recent years.
The timing of Monday’s meeting is notable. It comes days after reports that China had begun restricting rare earth and magnet exports to Japanese companies and imposed bans on certain dual-use items for Japan’s military.
Despite the broader tensions, Bessent said China was still meeting its commitments to purchase U.S. soybeans and to ship critical minerals to U.S. firms, underscoring the complex interdependence that continues to shape global supply chains.
