Despite the Trump administration’s tendency to label the energy transition a “green new scam,” it is actively pursuing a significant stake in what is projected to be the largest lithium mine in the Western Hemisphere. In exchange for renegotiating the repayment terms of a 2.26 billion dollar Department of Energy loan, the administration is asking for up to ten percent equity in Lithium Americas, a company where General Motors is a major investor.
Reuters first reported the news on Tuesday. A White House official stated that President Trump supports the project and wants it to succeed while also being fair to taxpayers, adding that there is no such thing as free money. This potential move represents the latest in a series of negotiations that have resulted in the US government taking equity stakes in companies like Intel and MP Materials.
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. The first phase of the mine is expected to produce enough lithium to manufacture as many as 800,000 electric vehicles per year. President Trump originally approved the permit for the project near the end of his first term, while the loan itself was awarded by the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office during the Biden administration.
Last year, General Motors purchased a thirty-eight percent stake in Lithium Americas for 625 million dollars. This deal also granted the automaker the right to purchase the entire output of the project’s first phase and twenty years of production from its second phase. In total, this agreement would provide GM with enough lithium for 1.6 million electric vehicles over the next two decades.
The Trump administration is now reportedly asking GM to guarantee those purchase commitments. This request comes even as the administration works to oppose automakers’ broader transition to electric vehicles.