Washington DC - A meeting hosted by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday saw a selection of key G7 countries agree to tighten controls on rare earths and reduce their reliance on China for key minerals.

Finance ministers from Group of Seven countries, as well as key US allies including Australia and South Korea, met in Washington on Monday to discuss new measures to secure supply chains for key resources.

It was expected that Bessent would exert pressure on US allies to reduce their reliance on Chinese minerals, which the Trump administration sees as a key weakness in the global supply chain.

Instead, Washington wants its allies to purchase such resources from sources that would be more beneficial to US interests.

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G7 countries account for a huge proportion of the world's demand for critical minerals, and China is responsible for the refining of a substantial amount of the world's copper, lithium, cobalt, and graphite.

Such minerals are crucial for the development of technologies that will be crucial in the fight against climate change. They are also necessary for the development of defense technologies.

Bessent was supported by Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama during the meeting, whose country has largely eliminated its dependence on China for rare earth supplies.

Katayama told reporters after the meeting that participants had agreed to "speedily lower dependence on China for rare earth supplies."

"At today's Finance Ministerial hosted by the [US Treasury], I was pleased to hear a strong, shared desire to quickly address key vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains," Bessent wrote on X after the meeting.

"I am optimistic that nations will pursue prudent derisking over decoupling and understand well the need for decisive action."