Finance ministers of the G7 gather in Paris on Monday and Tuesday to try to bridge their positions to assess the impact of the conflict in the Middle East and respond to it, or to break free from Chinese critical mineral dependence.
One month before the G7 summit in Evian (June 15-17), which it hosts as the rotating presidency, France wants to maintain the course of dialogue as geopolitical and trade tensions intensify and undermine international relations, even with the American ally, virtually absent under Donald Trump.
The top priority for the G7 finance ministers is the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East and the blockade by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, essential for the transport of hydrocarbons and fertilizers whose prices have soared.
In response, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects slower global growth and higher inflation in 2026.
“This war is seriously harming economic development. That is why everything must be done to definitively end it, restore stability in the region and ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” said German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil in a statement.
“The G7 is the appropriate framework to discuss these urgent issues with the United States and the other G7 countries,” he added. A new release of strategic oil stocks, like the one decided in March, is not on the agenda, however, according to Roland Lescure.
“But if we manage to open the Strait of Hormuz and we decide that we need some time between when the ships leave the strait and when they arrive on our shores, we can of course discuss that,” he cautiously said.
– Vulnerabilities and dependencies –
The ministers will also try to iron out disagreements on international trade after the imposition of customs duties by Washington.
While these imbalances fuel commercial, geopolitical and financial tensions, and compromise global growth, a common recognition of the situation would already be considered a major breakthrough by the French presidency.
This G7 meeting, which will also bring together the central bank governors of the member countries, comes a few days after Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.
This summit did not lead to major announcements, as the two leaders did not discuss tariffs, even though the two largest global economic powers reached a trade truce last October.
Among other topics on the table will be “securing our access to rare earths or fertilizers,” Roland Lescure indicated in an interview with La Tribune on Sunday.
In recent years, producers and transformers, especially China, have sometimes restricted certain exports of these essential components for entire sectors of the global economy, or taken advantage of their dominant position to influence prices.
“We need to do for critical materials what we did for energy in the 1970s,” a common cause, Mr. Lescure said last week.
Finally, the German minister points out that “we do not lose sight of Russia’s brutal aggression war even if the world is focused on the Middle East: the people of Ukraine can count on our support” in financing its defense.
[Context: G7 finance ministers meeting in Paris to address economic impact of Middle East conflict and Chinese mineral dependence.] [Fact check: The article discusses the importance of dialogue and cooperation among G7 countries amid growing geopolitical tensions and global economic challenges.]
