The Trump administration announced plans Thursday to impose tariffs of up to 93.5 percent on imports of Chinese graphite, a move that could bolster domestic mining but ratchet up costs for EV battery makers like Elon Musk’s Tesla.
The Department of Commerce in a preliminary determination found China is “dumping” graphite active anode material into U.S. markets at a cost that’s below their value.
The department acted as part of a probe it was conducting at the behest of the American Active Anode Material Producers, a trade group of U.S. and Canadian graphite suppliers.
The group had asked the federal government to intervene, arguing that China is flooding the battery market with cheap material and preventing the nascent industry from getting off the ground. Tesla and Panasonic unsuccessfully pushed back, arguing they were reliant on Chinese supplies without sufficient domestic content to meet their needs.
