G7 and EU Consider Price Floor, Tariffs on Rare Earths
9/26/2025, 7:06:49 PM | China | European Union
Aerospace
G7 and EU officials discussed price floors and import levies to spur rare-earth production outside China and reduce supply vulnerabilities.
G7 countries and the European Union have discussed creating a price floor for rare-earth minerals and applying taxes or tariffs on imports from China to encourage mining and processing outside China.
Rare-earth elements are critical to electric vehicles, wind turbines, batteries, electronics and many defense systems, while China currently dominates refining and much of the global supply chain, creating strategic vulnerabilities.
Measures under consideration include minimum prices, import levies, and complementary supports such as targeted subsidies, investment in domestic refining, recycling programs, and strategic stockpiles. The intent is to raise expected returns enough to make new non-Chinese projects commercially viable and attract private investment.
Supporters argue these steps would diversify supply and strengthen industrial resilience; opponents warn they could distort markets, raise costs for clean-energy industries, and prompt trade retaliation. Environmental and permitting hurdles mean new capacity could take years to materialize.
Officials framed the discussion as part of a broader industrial-policy push to secure critical minerals. No binding decisions were announced, and any path forward will require calibrating price signals, trade rules, environmental standards, and timelines for building processing capacity.