Lombardo asks Trump to back away from lithium tariffs

Nevada is the only state in the U.S. with a commercial lithium mine, and it has several other lithium mines in the development process. Putting tariffs on lithium imported from China would seem to create more demand, and a higher price, for lithium mined in Nevada.

So why is Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo asking President Donald Trump to remove tariffs on lithium from China? 

Because Nevada also has hopes of becoming a national hub for manufacturing lithium batteries.

And, Lombardo noted in a letter to Trump this week which the governor’s office released Thursday, Nevada’s domestic lithium industry “is still in its early stages. At present, there is no domestic technology capable of refining lithium to the standards required for manufacturing while also meeting our country’s environmental regulations. As a result all manufacturing grade lithium is imported from China.”

“As you can imagine,” Lombardo continued in his letter, “this is damaging all United States manufacturing that is dependent on this product.”

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has repeatedly condemned and attempted to nullify by clawing back funding, a Department of Energy loan program provided $2 billion in financing for Redwood Materials’ battery component recycling and production facility in Nevada.

“Mr. President, I respectfully urge you to reconsider and remove the tariffs on lithium,” Lombardo wrote. “Given that domestic processing is not yet a viable option, the current environment poses a serious risk to jobs in Nevada and across the country.”

Lombardo joins the ranks of several Republican officeholders in the nation who have critiqued the benefits of Trump’s tariff policies, which have continued to hammer stock markets even after Trump pulled back from most of his “Liberation Day” tariffs on nations the world over.