Global Economy — 2026-05-05

G7 Weighs Permanent Secretariat to Coordinate Critical Minerals Strategy

Five sources familiar with the talks told Reuters that G7 governments are discussing a standing minerals secretariat to sustain coordination beyond the bloc's rotating presidencies, with France convening an online ministerial and a leaders' summit in Evian in mid-June. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure described the meeting as aimed at how to "break China's stranglehold on critical materials." The secretariat could be housed at the IEA or the OECD, both in Paris, though those sources said no location or timetable has been set. Two sources also told Reuters that European governments rejected a shared centralized reserve proposed in the talks, preferring national stockpile control and expressing concern about potential U.S. oversight of any joint facility.

Analysis
Europe's rejection of a centralized minerals reserve, driven partly by concern over U.S. oversight per five Reuters sources, signals that sovereignty constraints inside the G7 will limit institutional ambition at least as much as shared posture toward China. The reserve dispute confirms that Lescure's 'stranglehold' framing has not translated shared threat perception into shared institutional willingness. With no location or timetable agreed, formal endorsement of a permanent coordination mechanism by close of the June 2026 G7 summit is unlikely. Both candidate hosts, the IEA and the OECD, are Paris-based, concentrating French diplomatic leverage. The secretariat push may be driven less by genuine G7 consensus than by France's strategic interest in anchoring minerals governance within institutions it already shapes.

3 sources

G7 weighs permanent secretariat to coordinate critical minerals beyond rotating presidencies - Prism News
France Convenes G7 on Critical Minerals to Curb China's Grip - Reuters / U.S. News & World Report
G7 Plans Permanent Unit for Critical Minerals Oversight - Global Banking & Finance Review