By Ernest Shater
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump will make the critical metal companies in the United States difficult for American critical metal companies to compete with China because it abolishes tax credit to enhance the local production of Nickel, rare land and other materials used in advanced electronics and weapons.
With Trump and the Republican legislators aimed at reducing government support for green energy projects, the US House of Representatives approved a copy of the “Beautiful law Law” last month that removes the alleged 45X credit. The Senate is now discussing the bill.
The Climate Change Law was established in former President Joe Biden, a 10 % production of inflation, a decrease in corporate taxes to extract minerals and treatment. The tax exemption also covers solar, battery and wind projects.
The issuance of the draft law that has passed the House of Representatives treats government incentives for wind turbines such as those with mining projects that many see as decisive to national security. Critical metal companies now say that their projects are side effects of the political dispute over renewable energy.
Tax credit is already a law and part of the current federal budget. The non -partisan congress budget office, which records the cost of legislative proposals when asked by Congress, has not studied how much it will be provided by removing the credit.
The Republican majority in Congress seeks to obtain savings to finance other priorities such as tax cuts, defense and budget budget. In this month, the House Freedom Council on the right said it “will not accept” attempts to “irrigate, strip or decline in hard spending discounts and new fraud in this legislation.”
Miners, however, they say they need credit to compete with China. Beijing stopped exports of some critical minerals, used its control on rare lands to distribute a trade agreement with Washington, and the global markets were submerged with cheap supplies of nickel, cobalt and lehium.
The conservative mining industry traditionally finds itself in the extraordinary situation of the need for Washington’s support for growth, and in some cases, survival. The owner of the only American Cobalt mine was bankrupt this year after Chinese miners suffer from the global prices of this mineral.
“If we do not have this tax credit, critical metal producers in the United States are at risk of being closed,” said Kali Long, founder and director of Westwin, Westwin, who builds the only commercial nickel refinery in the country.
Long said that Westwin may not be able to serve her debts without tax credit, noting that the company’s loans have been designed using an expectation that it will be permanent. Last month, Long wrote a letter asking the Senate to maintain credit. The signing by 30 executives in this field participated in the signing.
Any changes made by the Senate must reconcile with the draft law with a copy of the House of Representatives before sending it to Trump. Many members of the House of Representatives admitted that they had not read the entire draft law before voting in favor of it, including Congress Margori Taylor Green, a Republican in Georgia, and a member of Congress Mike Flud, a Republican in Nebraska.
The release of the house includes $ 2.5 billion to finance critical mineral stocks and $ 500 million for the Pentagon Mining Loans, although large mines often cost much more.
Democrats in the House of Representatives unanimously voted against the draft law, but their criticism focused on the tax cuts that they say will expand the deficit with the request for discounts in health care, food assistance, education, scientific research and other programs.
“There are many issues under study now in Congress, and this does not penetrate, but it will definitely extend when we have a lack of minerals within five years,” said Jeff Green, a decisive metal consultant.
Senator John Heikinlobol, a democratic in Colorado, who voted for the Irish Republican Army in 2022, said in a statement to Reuters that the credit reduction “will kill jobs … only to finance tax exemptions for the sake of super and” and will be a “bad deal” for the country.
Trump, who issued many executive orders aimed at promoting US mineral production, publicly did not comment on a 45X discussion. A White House official said that the administration will only support the provisions of the Irish Republican Army, such as 45X tax credit if it focuses on the priorities of the president.
“The tax credit only adds an enormous bump to the project’s economies and gives us advantages that China is already gives its own companies,” said Alex Grant, CEO of Magrathea, who signed. China controls most of the global mineral production, used in steel and aluminum alloys.
Abeel Hunter, Executive Director of the Safe’s Center for Mineraals, described the tax credit as “the only tool currently available to support the industry prone to manipulation of the market.”
The release of the house also removes any remaining financing from the Irish Republican Army to the L -Energy Ministry Loan Programs Office (LPO), which was granted under Biden billions of dollars as loans for Li -Taium projects in Nevada from Ioneer and Lithium America. The possibility of closing LPO led to the rush of miners to the completion of loans last year, as Reuters reported in August.
Republican Senators said this week that they were in discussions on how to expand some tax credits for green energy, especially for companies with large capital investments. No firm obligations were made.
For Mahesh Konduu, CEO of Mineraals Processing Momntum Technologies, credit is one way for Washington to show industry support.
“We need the appropriate tools for building, developing and developing this supply chain in the United States,” he said.
(Participated in reporting Ernst Shater, additional reports by Bo Ericsson; Liberation by Veronica Brown and David Gregorio)
