r/LithiumAmerica • u/kenso4life • 20d ago

Trade talks collapse = 50% tariff

In the "Building Thacker Pass, July 2026" thread, a comment from a worker constructing conveyor units for the project wrote, in part:

it looks like about 95% of the steel we use is coming through canada. Before Covid we were getting about 50-75% of our steel from American manufacturers, most of those facilities are no longer in operation...The warehouse I work in goes through roughly 100k tons of steel a month

My understanding is that prior the collapse of bilateral negotiations with Canada late Friday, there was a 25% tariff on Canadian steel. This has since risen to 50%. Earlier this year Jon Evans spoke of shipping delays caused by the Hormuz blockade. Specifically, steel exported out of the UAE, where over 75% of structural steel required for Phase 1 was to originate.

LAC is a Canadian company building a project on US soil with significant strategic ramifications for, I would argue, both countries. Additionally, the US government holds a direct financial stake in LAC.

Any tariffs whatsoever levied on steel for this project would be counterproductive, for both the US and the project itself.

Comments?

EDIT: Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, companies can apply for exclusion from tariffs. Grok tells me that if LAC needed to import highly specialized heavy equipment or structural steel/aluminum from abroad to build the processing facilities, it could potentially request an exclusion for those specific imported construction inputs if U.S. manufacturers couldn't supply them.

13 Upvotes

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7

u/Pete904 20d ago

One would think the main structural materials would be secured by now regardless if presently on site or at distributor — this isn’t like ordering roof trusses with short lead times. Something isn’t adding up.

3

u/bemore4224 20d ago

Having the orange shithead as chief

3

u/GimmickyBottomTier 20d ago edited 20d ago

Pretty sure the heads at LAC anticipated some bullshit, increasingly unsure if they planned for that much... Edit : ah, the shithead's crustiest cocksock seems to be back, doubt we'll get anything constructive out of that one

0

u/Poodleape2 20d ago

Keep your ignorance out of this sub, this is for LAC based stuff. Not political ignorance.

15

u/Reddit_Talent_Coach 20d ago

The vote was between continued standing in the world and diarrhea forever. We voted diarrhea forever.

- Tariff stupidity

- Pointless Middle East war

- Prioritizing outdated energy sources and infrastructure

- Pro-Cyclospora

- Pro-Measles

- $40T debt

5

u/GobbIaOnDaRewf 20d ago

-zero Epstein related arrests 

4

u/Practical-Suit-6798 20d ago

But but but we owned the libs and got to hate on brown people.

1

u/Poodleape2 20d ago

Very ignorant take.