The Trump administration might be fond of calling the energy transition the “green new scam,” but that isn’t stopping it from seeking a significant stake in what promises to be the largest lithium mine in the Western Hemisphere.
In exchange for renegotiating the repayment period of a $2.26 billion Department of Energy loan, the Trump administration is asking for as much as 10% equity in Lithium Americas, a company in which GM is a major investor.
Reuters first reported the news Tuesday. “President Trump supports this project. He wants it to succeed and also be fair to taxpayers,” a White House official told the news organization. “But there’s no such thing as free money.”
The move would be the latest in a string of negotiations that have given the U.S. government stakes in Intel and MP Materials.
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. The first phase would produce enough lithium to make as many as 800,000 electric vehicles per year. President Trump approved the permit for the project at the tail end of his first term, and the loan was awarded by the DOE’s Loan Program Office under President Biden.
GM bought a 38% stake in Lithium Americas last year for $625 million, a deal that also gave the automaker the right to buy the entirety of the first phase of production and 20 years of the second phase. In total, that would be enough for 1.6 million EVs for the next two decades.
The Trump administration is reportedly asking GM to guarantee those purchases, even as it works to thwart automakers’ transition to EVs.
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