Argentina seeks to maintain lithium supplies to the United States

The Minister for International Economic Relations, Cecilia Todesca-Poco, met in Washington with mining, automotive and service companies with the aim of analyzing how Argentina could maintain lithium exports to the United States.

Todesca Bocco was with CEOs from Levent, Panasonic, Río Tinto, Tesla, Ford, GM, Allkem, Prism, Albemarle, Panasonic, Rivian, South 32, Lilac Solutions, and Delphos, with whom she analyzed the implications. In a statement, the State Department mentioned that, for Argentina, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, for English acronym) regulations apply to Argentine lithium exports.

The IRA, which was approved in the United States on August 16, 2022, contains several incentives and measures aimed at incentivizing domestic manufacturing and converting the existing fleet of fossil fuel-powered vehicles into electric vehicles.

For this purpose, families are given tax credits for the purchase of battery-powered automobiles that were manufactured with inputs extracted and processed within the United States or in countries with which a free trade agreement is in place.

The purpose of the interaction with interested companies was to analyze the feasibility of coordinating efforts to achieve the integration of Argentina into the group of countries providing important minerals and to ensure that it remains the main supplier of lithium to the United States.

Currently, Argentine exports of lithium account for nearly 50% of US purchases of the metal. (to blame)