On Tuesday, Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that Canada and its Five Eyes Alliance partners are collaborating on presenting a response to address the manipulation of prices for critical metals.

The Five Eyes intelligence sharing network comprises of United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The finance ministers from these countries met last Thursday for the spring session of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

Freeland mentioned that last week, she and her counterparts from the Five Eyes Alliance discussed strategies for "friend-shoring" their critical minerals supply chain to combat the dumping of these minerals in the international market by major producing countries like China and Indonesia.

The World Economic Forum describes 'friend-shoring' as a trade practice where supply chain networks are focussed on countries that are regarded as political and economic allies.

Freeland stated that Canada and its allies believe that nickel and other rare earth minerals are deliberately being oversupplied in the market to force Canadian and allied companies out of business.

"Canada is actively working on what we can do to discuss collective responses," she said, adding that economic security needs to be part of national security. Freeland was addressing the media at the annual First Nations Major Projects Coalition conference in Toronto.

Canada has listed 31 metals as critical minerals, which are necessary for future energy and technology transition.

Dumping is an anti-competitive trade practice in which a country exports certain products at a price lower than what is sold in its home country.

In March of this year, Canada's Natural Resource Minister Jonathan Wilkinson expressed similar concerns regarding the manipulation of prices and the dumping of metals used in electric vehicles.

As part of its initiative to encourage investments in the critical metal and electric vehicle supply chain, Canada has introduced investment tax credits in its recent annual budget, which are expected to attract interest from global car manufacturers like Honda.

Freeland highlighted that while the U.S. has the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation aimed at promoting investments in clean energy that has had a significant impact on the global investment landscape, Canada's investment policy is the only one in the world that that gives the U.S. "a run for its money".

Image source: Reuters