The finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading global democracies and others plan to discuss access to critical raw materials in Washington on Monday.

Thirty-four materials, such as lithium, cobalt, rare earths, copper and aluminium, are considered critical raw materials due to their particular importance to the economy.

The raw materials are essential to key technologies, but their supply often depends on a few countries, such as China and Venezuela.

The talks come as President Donald Trump has repeated his claim to Greenland, which has large deposits of rare earths.

Several G7 members have expressed their opposition to this, stressing that Greenland’s sovereignty is a matter for Greenland and Denmark, of which the island is a part.

Ahead of the talks, German foreign minister Lars Klingbeil stressed that Germany and the European Union are committed to fair, rule-based and reliable trade in these raw materials.

“Germany has a strong interest in expanding international cooperation here to strengthen supply security, reduce dependencies and ensure reliable economic conditions,” Mr Klingbeil said, adding that joint action must be taken wherever possible.

The Group of Seven consists of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan.

According to numerous media reports, Australia is also expected to attend the meeting.

(dpa/NAN)