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

• Chines battery provider CATL might 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 needed to put money into the U.S. however thus far the federal government’s mentioned no

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

“Initially, once we needed to put money into the U.S., the U.S. authorities mentioned no,” Robin Zeng mentioned 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 mentioned are a key to EV affordability. The battery cells produced there could be primarily based on CATL tech, however the manufacturing facility itself could be owned by Ford. An April report mentioned Basic Motors could also be looking for an analogous deal with CATL.

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

Beneath current 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 father or mother 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 nations 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 will give incentives, and if China and different nations need to come right here and promote automobiles, they are going to construct crops right here, and they are going to rent our employees,” Trump mentioned in August. Zeng seems optimistic that this coverage will apply to batteries as nicely, 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 at present increasing its commercial-vehicle battery-supply enterprise in its residence market, and just lately launched a mixed-chemistry battery pack designed for plug-in hybrids.