A Florida congressman says he’s pressing the Biden administration on Canada’s decision to skip an extended national security review of a Chinese state-owned company’s takeover of a lithium mining firm.
“It was quite surprising to me to hear of this acquisition, given there’s a clear national security nexus and I would think there’s clear national security concerns,” Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R) told POLITICO. “Not just any acquisition — but from a Chinese state-owned firm is, again, very surprising and very alarming.”
The Trudeau government has come under fire for not subjecting the deal involving the Canadian headquartered Neo Lithium Corp. and China’s Zijin Mining Group Ltd. to the extended review. Neo Lithium’s mining site is in Argentina and the company says it will extract battery-grade lithium carbonate — used in products like zero-emission vehicles — over 35 years.
Question about consultations: Waltz said he sent inquiries to the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy to find out if Canada informed the Biden administration about the potential deal.
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