China’s CATL open to constructing US battery plant if Trump permits

• Chines battery provider CATL may construct a plant within the U.S.
• The choice would hinge on whether or not Trump’s administration permits the Chinese language to enter the market
• CATL wished to put money into the U.S. however to this point the federal government’s stated no

Chinese language battery provider CATL is open to constructing a U.S. manufacturing unit if the incoming Trump administration permits it, the corporate’s founder stated in a latest interview.

“Initially, once we wished to put money into the U.S., the U.S. authorities stated no,” Robin Zeng stated in an interview with Reuters printed Wednesday. “For me, I am actually open-minded.”

CATL has to date restricted its U.S. presence to licensing offers with automakers. Ford in 2023 introduced a Michigan battery plant to construct lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which the automaker has stated are a key to EV affordability. The battery cells produced there can be based mostly on CATL tech, however the manufacturing unit itself can be owned by Ford. An April report stated Common Motors could also be searching for the same deal with CATL.

Even earlier than Trump, who launched a commerce conflict with China throughout his first time period in 2017, was elected to a second time period as president, that association was already below menace.

Underneath present Biden administration coverage, automobiles with Chinese language-made batteries don’t qualify for a federal EV tax credit score, nor do automobiles manufactured by entities in whose guardian firms the Chinese language authorities has a stake. A Republican invoice, opposed by the present administration, would additionally remove tax credit for EVs making use of Chinese language battery tech licensed by U.S. automakers.

But whereas Trump needs to stop imports of automobiles from Chinese language automakers—even when they’re assembled in different international locations like Mexico—Reuters notes that in an August interview he was open to Chinese language corporations constructing automobiles within the U.S.

CATL Freevoy plug-in hybrid battery pack

“We’ll give incentives, and if China and different international locations need to come right here and promote automobiles, they will construct crops right here, and they will rent our staff,” Trump stated in August. Zeng seems optimistic that this coverage will apply to batteries as properly, telling Reuters that “I do hope that sooner or later they’re open to investments.”

It stays to be seen what batteries CATL would produce within the U.S., however the firm is presently increasing its commercial-vehicle battery-supply enterprise in its dwelling market, and not too long ago launched a mixed-chemistry battery pack designed for plug-in hybrids.