The price of batteries could surge, with some component prices doubling, if the U.S. imposes an additional hefty tariff on U.S. imports of graphite from China that the American battery material makers seek, industry analysts say.
Energy storage and EV batteries could see costs in the U.S. more than double with an escalation of the trade wars in critical minerals, per a report by investment bank Roth Capital Partners cited by the South China Morning Post.
This report followed last week’s call by the American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP), a coalition of American graphite producers, who submitted a petition to the Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission (ITC) to initiate a trade investigation and impose tariffs as high as 920% on imports of natural and synthetic graphite from China used to make lithium-ion battery anode material.
“AAAMP is filing this case to help protect the North American graphite industry, which is at risk of being smothered by China’s malicious trade practices,” Erik Olson, spokesperson for the U.S. coalition, said.
“Without trade relief from the U.S. government, the domestic graphite industry is in peril,” Olson added.
“China’s anticompetitive actions make it challenging for graphite producers to find secure financial footing, which prevents them from becoming established players in the global market.”
The current 25% tariff on most graphite imports from China – the world’s dominant supplier of the battery material – “is far too low,” the coalition says.
AAAMP petitioned for the investigation under the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) statutes, asking authorities to “assess additional tariffs equal to the extent of unfair pricing by the Chinese.” The coalition’s experts and legal representation have estimated that the appropriate anti-dumping tariffs on graphite from China should be as high as 920%.
Tariffs could protect U.S. graphite makers, but the current state of affairs in the global graphite market is such that China holds 93% of the world’s battery-grade graphite supply, per estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The United States holds just 1% of this market, according to the IEA.
In the global graph