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(Reuters) – Canada will focus on securing supplies of critical minerals when it hosts its Group of Seven partners this week at a meeting of energy and environment ministers in Toronto, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in an interview on Tuesday.
G7 countries, except Japan, are heavily or exclusively reliant on China for a range of materials from rare earth magnets to battery metals.
“We will see this week many examples of us moving beyond talks to firm commitments to fund several types of tools (to secure critical minerals),” Hodgson said. The G7 meeting will be held from October 30 to October 31.
Earlier this year G7 officials met in Chicago and discussed price floors backed by government subsidies, which the U.S. recently introduced to encourage domestic production of critical minerals.
Canada will also aim to cement offtake agreements, or financing deals where a buyer agrees to purchase a producer’s output in the future for a predetermined price.
“What you will see on Friday is a number of concrete announcements demonstrating that a multilateral approach to securing supply chains and energy supplies works,” Hodgson said.
He said Canada intended to be a leader in securing supply chains for all of its key allies, to reduce reliance on China. Canada produces several critical metals such as nickel, copper and cobalt.
Some of the announcements expected this week from the G7 meeting will be on stockpiling of critical minerals and investments in new mining and processing operations, Hodgson said.
U.S. President Donald Trump called off trade talks with Canada this week that had been focusing on U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos. Hodgson reiterated that Canada and the U.S. had also been in talks over the revival of the Keystone XL oil pipeline as part of an eventual deal, but said it was unclear when both countries would re-engage on the issue.
“When the Americans are ready to talk, we are ready to talk,” he said.
Reporting by Divya Rajagopal. Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Mark Potter
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