G7 countries plan to limit China’s share of rare earths to 60%

The G7 is drawing a line in the sand on rare earths. The bloc’s finance ministers and allied nations are actively working to cap China’s share of the global rare earth market at roughly 60%, a target that sounds modest until you realize Beijing currently controls the vast majority of the supply chain from mine to magnet.

Here’s the thing: China mines approximately 60% of the world’s rare earths, processes about 90% of them, and manufactures more than 95% of the downstream magnets that end up in electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, and advanced weapons systems. Limiting China’s mining share to 60% is really about attacking the rest of that pipeline, the refining and manufacturing chokepoints where Beijing’s dominance is most suffocating.

The playbook: price floors, tariffs, and friend-shoring

Policy tools under discussion include setting minimum prices for rare earths, imposing tariffs on Chinese supply, and offering incentives to boost production in allied countries.

The G7 unveiled a Critical Minerals Action Plan in June 2025, signaling that the issue had graduated from talking point to strategic priority. By October 2025, Canada spearheaded the launch of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, pulling in partners like Australia, South Korea, and India.

A significant meeting in September 2025 advanced the conversation further. Then in January 2026, finance leaders gathered in Washington to hash out specifics, including minimum pricing mechanisms and production incentives designed to make non-Chinese rare earth operations economically viable.

Why rare earths matter beyond industrial policy

China didn’t dominate this market by accident. Beijing invested heavily in rare earth mining and refining for decades while Western nations largely outsourced the dirty work. The result is a supply chain vulnerability that became impossible to ignore when China began imposing export restrictions, weaponizing its mineral dominance amid escalating US-China trade frictions.

The minerals themselves are essential to the energy transition. Neodymium and praseodymium go into the permanent magnets that drive EV motors and wind turbines. Dysprosium and terbium make those magnets work at high temperatures.

For defense, rare earth elements are embedded in precision-guided munitions, jet engines, submarine sonar systems, and satellite communications.

What this means for investors

The direct crypto angle here is limited, despite growing industry chatter about tokenizing rare earth assets on blockchain for traceability and fractional ownership. Projects like the RARX token and rare earth tokenization efforts through companies like Datavault AI have been publicly noted, but none of these are connected to the G7’s official strategy.

For traditional commodity investors, the G7’s price floor discussions are significant. If implemented, minimum pricing would create a more predictable revenue environment for non-Chinese rare earth miners, potentially making companies in Australia, Canada, and the US more attractive.

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