G7 Agrees to Cap China's Rare Earths Supply at 60% by 2030

Leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies reached a consensus at their summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, to diversify global critical mineral supply chains and reduce economic dependence on China. The agreement, announced on the final day of the three-day summit on June 18, 2026, sets a binding target to limit any single country's share of rare earths and permanent magnets imports to no more than 60% by 2030, with aspirations to reduce this further to 50% as soon as possible thereafter.

The initiative addresses China's overwhelming dominance in global rare earth markets, where it controls approximately 70% of production and roughly 90% of processing capacity. This near-monopoly has given Beijing substantial leverage over critical supply chains essential to electric vehicles, semiconductors, and defense systems. The G7 leaders emphasized their collective commitment to respond to economic coercion involving critical minerals, including export restrictions and retaliatory trade measures, reflecting concerns heightened by China's sweeping export controls on rare earths and critical minerals imposed in recent years.

Beyond rare earths, the G7 pledged to establish specific supply chain targets for other critical minerals by year-end and to introduce quotas in key industrial sectors, particularly defense manufacturing, to accelerate the diversification effort. The leaders also committed to establishing a coordinated platform to increase supply from recycling initiatives and new mining projects. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, attending her first G7 summit since taking office in October 2025, underscored the importance of collective action to reduce global economic uncertainty and counter nonmarket practices contributing to production excess and distortions.

G7 officials acknowledged that achieving the 2030 target will prove challenging, as many prospective mineral development projects face funding constraints, regulatory obstacles, social opposition, and technical difficulties. The scale of the challenge is substantial: building alternative supply chains capable of meeting global demand would require vast capital investment and technical expertise, while rare earth mining and refining remain environmentally damaging and time-intensive processes. The agreement represents one of the few areas of full consensus at the summit, which was otherwise dominated by discussions surrounding a tentative U.S.-Iran peace agreement and broader concerns about global economic imbalances, industrial overcapacity, and state subsidies.