Trump’s EV rollback not expected to suppress appetite for critical minerals By Reuters

By Melanie Burton and Ernest Scheider

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s rollback of electric vehicle targets may temporarily slow demand for lithium and other key minerals but is unlikely to hamper mining amid pent-up global electricity demand, analysts and industry leaders said.

Trump on Tuesday rescinded predecessor Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order that aimed to make half of all new cars sold in the U.S. electric by 2030. Automakers were positioning themselves for increased electric demand, largely because of Biden’s move.

Trump’s order sent shares of Japanese automakers, South Korean battery makers and Australian, U.S. and Chinese lithium miners tumbling.But even if demand for electricity cools in the world’s second-largest auto market, analysts and industry experts expect traction elsewhere to more than compensate.

Trump has planned other regulatory changes to end support for Electric Power and charging stations. He also aims to strengthen measures blocking the import of cars and battery materials from China.

“Every time people take subsidies or allowances … it distorts the demand scenario,” said Glyn Lowcock, an analyst at Barenjo, an Australian investment bank slower under Trump.”

Australian lithium producer Liontown Resources (ASX: ) says the global shift to electronics is underway, with or without the United States.

“Longer term, I just don’t think it’s going to be a demand issue,” Liontown CEO Antonino Ottaviano said on an analyst call Tuesday.

Most of the growth in the power industry is in China, which accounts for 11 million sales, or 65% of the market, compared with North America, which accounts for 20% of the market, Liontown executives said.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is already recording 1.3 million EV sales and growing at 27% annually, a trajectory that will make more sense than the entire North American market in less than two years, Liontown executives added.

That growth potential is what Chinese EV makers are chasing, given that they are locked out of the US market by the 100% EV tariffs imposed by Biden.

Grid-scale batteries that store days of electricity are popular worldwide, for example. Critical metals are also used to make many consumer electronics, as well as computer servers needed by the artificial intelligence industry.

Albemarle (NYSE: ), the world’s largest lithium company, declined to comment on Trump’s order.

Arcadium, the lithium company slated to be bought by Rio Tinto ( NYSE: ) and the International Lithium Association trade group, were not immediately available for comment.

Rio Tinto also declined to comment on Trump’s order, but its chief executive Jakob Stausholm said at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that he was bullish on the white metal.

“The demand for lithium will probably increase fivefold in the next 15 years, so many lithium projects will have to be built,” Stausholm said at a forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding that he has had electricity for more than nine years.

“It’s just a better car” than an internal combustion engine, Stausholm added.

David Klanecki, CEO of privately held battery recycling company Cirba Solutions, expects U.S. demand for the critical mineral to increase by 2030, not just for electronics, but for myriad electronics.

Aside from the targeted pullback, miners said they believed measures to cut Western producers off Chinese supplies would support their metals.

“We expect the measures taken to gain supply chain independence from China … to have a far greater impact than withdrawing the official e-vehicle sales target,” said Darryl Kuzubo, chief executive of Australian rare earths developer Arafura.

“There is a tipping point for electric vehicles where targets and incentives will not be required to encourage them.”