Top US Army general's Argentina visit reveals interest in lithium and concern over China

General Laura Richardson, head of the US Army’s Southern Command, is visiting Argentina to strengthen defense and security bilateral ties. This visit is also being linked to an interest in lithium.

Richardson has stated on several occasions that Chinese investments in Latin America's critical minerals, especially in the so-called Lithium Triangle comprising Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, represent a risk to international security.

“I’d like to say what the PRC is doing – the People’s Republic of China – looks to be investment but really I call it extraction, at the end of the day,” she said at an event at the Center for International Strategic Studies last August.

Richardson, who oversaw the donation of a US$30mn Hercules plane to the Argentine air force during her visit, met with foreign minister Diana Mondino, defense minister Luis Petri and other government and military authorities, and was due to meet President Javier Milei in the southernmost city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego province.

Ushuaia is where the Chinese state-owned Shaanxi Chemical Industry Group is building a multipurpose port to ship products such as urea, synthetic ammonia and glyphosate, among other purposes.

Richardson expressed her concern about the installation of a Chinese space base in Neuquén province, while Petri promised to make efforts to ensure it will only be used for scientific, and not military, purposes.

US INTEREST IN LITHIUM

The Argentine ambassador to the United States, Gerardo Werthein, acknowledged that the Milei government is seeking a trade agreement with Washington to export lithium and critical minerals, in addition to promoting technological exchange, local media reported in March.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for his part, confirmed the Biden administration's interest in cooperating with mineral extraction in a meeting with Milei in February, where matters such as democratic governance and the potential dollarization of the Argentine economy were discussed.

Blinken reaffirmed the interest of the US in contributing to the stabilization of the Argentine economy and promoting the development of industries such as energy and mining.

Washington’s top diplomat said the US is creating an association for mineral security where “Argentina can play a fundamental role as a supplier,” the foreign ministry said in a report released during Blinken's visit.

Christian Rudloff, a lawyer at the Hunton Andrews Kurth firm’s New York office, told BNamericas that the supply of critical minerals is a hot topic in US politics due to the lack of "internal capacity to produce" and there is a strategy to increase the competitiveness of electric vehicle manufacturers in the domestic economy.

By 2032, demand for lithium carbonate equivalent in the US will be around 340,000t due to the growth in sales of electric vehicles, according to a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation.