The Trump administration on Thursday moved one step closer to finalizing steep new tariffs on imports of Chinese active anode material, a key ingredient in battery manufacturing.
The long-running trade probe is separate from President Donald Trump’s broad reciprocal tariffs that have rocked the global economy. But it gives the Trump administration another avenue to protect domestic manufacturers in what it has identified as a key industry — critical minerals — especially if its broad tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are struck down by the Supreme Court.
The Commerce Department announced final affirmative determinations that would impose a 93.5 percent antidumping duty and a 67 percent countervailing duty on active anode material coming from China, which is typically composed of graphite.
The antidumping duty aligns with the agency’s preliminary rates set last year, while the countervailing duty is much higher than its initial 6.55 percent general rate, though it scaled back its proposal to slap two specific Chinese companies with countervailing rates over 700 percent.
