President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Trump administration is ratcheting up government ownership in mining companies that are nominally Canadian, raising questions about whether Ottawa plans similar investments.
Trump has ordered his Department of War to take a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals (TSX, NYSE American: TMQ) and help fund South32 (ASX, LSE, JSE: S32), joint partners of the Arctic copper-zinc project in Alaska. That follows a 5% US government stake announced this month in Lithium Americas (TSX, NYSE: LAC), which is developing the $3 billion Thacker Pass project in Nevada. Trilogy and Lithium Americas are based in Vancouver.
“The funny part is, they’re not Canadian because all their assets are in the United States, so are they Canadian? Are they American?” says Krisztián Tóth, a partner at Toronto-based law firm Fasken…
