GM has a 38 per cent interest, with the balance held by Lithium Americas. While new terms with the U.S. administration haven't been worked out, mergers and acquisitions lawyers said the list of Canadian companies in the sights of the administration could grow, raising questions for Ottawa. "The bottom line is that many industrialized nations and their leading companies are seeking security over critical minerals and their supply chains through equity ownership, joint venture arrangements and or loans and other financial support for these large scale projects," said Curtis Cusinato, vice-chair and partner at Bennett Jones LLP. "With Canada having extensive expertise and access to sophisticated capital markets participants in the mining and exploration industries, some of these leading mining and exploration companies listed in Canada who are focused on critical minerals … may very well be the beneficiaries in the near-term for some of these U.S. and global initiatives."