Talks to focus on ending the four-year conflict and countering Beijing's supply chain control, even as U.S.-Canada trade tensions loom in the background.
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| Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand in Washington in August (Andrew Harnik) |
NIAGARA, Canada – Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations are gathering in Niagara, Canada, on Tuesday for high-stakes talks expected to be dominated by two critical global challenges: finding a sustainable path to fund Ukraine in its four-year-old conflict with Russia and building a unified front against China's dominance of critical mineral supply chains.
The urgency of the Ukraine discussion is underscored by devastating recent Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure as winter approaches. A central focus of the talks, held in Canada's Niagara region, will be finding consensus on new, long-term options to fund Ukraine's war needs.
The meeting follows aggressive new sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in October against two of Moscow's largest oil companies, a move intended to punish President Vladimir Putin for his refusal to end the conflict. President Trump has also continued to pressure European allies to halt all purchases of Russian oil, which he argues directly funds Moscow's "war machine."
Host nation Canada, however, is also looking to broaden the meeting's scope. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told AFP that a key priority is to foster a "multilateral conversation" beyond the traditional G7 bloc (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States).
"For Canada, it is important to foster a multilateral conversation, especially now, in such a volatile and complicated environment," Anand said. In line with this goal, representatives from Saudi Arabia, India, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and South Korea will also be on hand for parts of the discussion.
Trade Tensions Simmer
The meeting's backdrop is complicated by simmering trade tensions between the host and its largest partner. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled for a bilateral meeting with Anand on Wednesday, the final day of the talks.
However, Anand told AFP she did not expect to press the issue of the ongoing trade war, which has been blamed for Canadian job losses and economic strain. "The trade issue is being dealt with by other ministers," she stated.
The comments come just weeks after President Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada—shortly after an apparently cordial WhiteS. House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. The president reportedly voiced fury over an advertisement, produced by Ontario's provincial government, which quoted former president Ronald Reagan on the harm caused by tariffs.
Countering China's Mineral Grip
The second major pillar of the G7 agenda is economic security, specifically countering China's strategic dominance of critical mineral supply chains. This meeting follows a G7 energy secretaries' summit two weeks prior, which focused on this growing concern.
Beijing has established near-total market control over the refining and processing of key minerals, particularly the rare earth materials essential for magnets used in everything from electric vehicles to advanced defense technology.
Last month, the G7 announced an initial series of joint projects to ramp up refining capacity that explicitly excludes China. While the United States was not a party to those initial deals, the Trump administration has signaled strong alignment with its G7 partners on the issue.
A senior State Department official told reporters ahead of the Niagara meeting that critical mineral supply chains would be "a major point of focus."
"There's a growing global consensus amongst a lot of our partners and allies that economic security is national security," the official said.
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