Between the United States and China, trade tensions are high and very real. Indeed, the two nations seem to want to compete in almost all segments and do not hesitate to use political stratagems to achieve this. Recently, Washington thus made an announcement which will not fail to provoke a reaction Chinese government.
In recent days, the American government has, in fact, imposed significant 25% customs duties on graphite anodes, imported from China. These are components that enable the scale production of lithium-ion electric batteries. An important decision, which tends to demonstrate that Washington wishes to become one of the strongholds in the production of such batteries in the world.
Washington increases customs duties
Approximately 97% of anodes in graphiteused for the development of electric batteries, are produced in China. These customs duties will help accelerate the search for sources of supply other than that represented by Beijing. But in the short term, these customs duties could block American automotive equipment, which remains particularly dependent on Chinese technology.
However, additional options exist and these are being studied with great interest. It’s about Brazilof Mozambique and finally, Madagascar. If the two African countries cited here represent 6% of the global sector “only”, their share could grow quite significantly. And there is an urgency to find new suppliers, since American demand for graphite is expected to triple by 2034.
Permits, imposed by Beijing
On the Chinese side, this announcement did not go unanswered. It was even anticipated since Beijing now requires the granting of a permit to companies wishing to import chinese graphite. It is therefore increasingly difficult to gain access to the market and we can easily imagine that the increase in American customs duties could imply a strengthening of the conditions of access to this Chinese permit.
