Corn subsidies are really bad and stupid to boot. So I wouldn't bring them up as a good example.
Why is corn vital to the national interest? And what's the national interest you want to protect by subsidising lithium?
Most of those 'national interest' justifications are pretty flimsy, and there's almost always a better and more targeted approach to protecting the stated national interest than the subsidies and protectionism they are used to justify.
