Federal officials in a surprise vote Thursday concluded that imports of Chinese active anode material — a key battery ingredient — are not hampering the nation’s ability to establish a graphite industry and won’t face steep tariffs that U.S. producers had requested.
The vote is a blow to the President Donald Trump’s efforts to find new ways to impose tariffs on imports after his broad reciprocal tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court. While the graphite case has been under consideration since before he returned to office, Trump has focused heavily on boosting domestic critical minerals producers and reducing the U.S.’ reliance on imported Chinese materials.
The International Trade Commission in a 2 to 1 vote concluded that Chinese imports are not impeding the development of a U.S. graphite industry, reversing the agency’s preliminary determination in January 2025.
The negative determination means that the Commerce Department will now cancel the steep tariffs it tentatively imposed on graphite imports last month and return cash deposits to importers.
