Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo urges Trump administration to remove lithium tariffs

Jessica Hill, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Apr 17, 2025

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Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo is urging the Trump administration to remove lithium tariffs.

The Republican governor sent a letter earlier this week applauding the president’s efforts to bring manufacturing jobs to the United States but expressing concerns about the tariffs’ impact on Nevada’s growing lithium industry.

“The continued innovation and evolution of American manufacturing have opened the door to exciting new opportunities and products across various sectors, including energy,” he wrote in the letter shared with media on Thursday. “Nevada, home to North America’s largest known lithium deposits, stands at the forefront of this transformation.”

The lithium industry is still in its infancy, Lombardo wrote. There is no domestic technology capable of refining lithium to the standards required for manufacturing while also meeting environmental regulations. All manufacturing-grade lithium currently is imported from China, he wrote.

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

In Nevada, a campaign to close the so-called “lithium loop” has garnered bipartisan support. The vision of lawmakers is to have the Silver State be the country’s leader for lithium production, having all stages of lithium battery production from mining to manufacturing on Nevada soil.

Last year, the federal government awarded the University of Nevada, Reno, $21 million to see that goal to fruition. Nevada is home to the only lithium mine in the country, Silver Peak in rural Esmeralda County, about 40 miles northwest of Tonopah. Two other mines — Rhyolite Ridge in the same county and Thacker Pass near the Oregon border — are fully permitted with construction well underway.

In the meantime, some companies are exporting lithium to Canada and Mexico for processing, then returning the refined material back to the U.S., which threatens American operations and domestic jobs, Lombardo wrote in his letter.

“Moreover, U.S. companies—including those in Nevada—cannot absorb the costs of newly imposed tariffs, rendering them increasingly uncompetitive in the global market,” Lombardo wrote.

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