The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has made an affirmative determination in its preliminary antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations concerning active anode material from China.
Battery diagram from UL.
The American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP) filed its AD/CVD petitions with the Dept. of Commerce and U.S. ITC in December 2024, requesting investigations into active anode material (AAM) used in lithium-ion energy storage and EV batteries. AAAMP claimed that China’s dominance on AAM production has prohibited the domestic market from establishing competitive operations.
The ITC found some merit behind this claim, indicating that the U.S. AAM industry has been “materially retarded” by dumped and subsidized imports from China. Whereas previous AD/CVD cases in the solar panel space could prove a clear “before” and “after” level of harm once dumped Chinese product entered the United States, the AAM industry does not yet have significant product output to compare. Today’s affirmative preliminary decision by the ITC sets up a unique opportunity for other similar products to allege material retardation of domestic industries — the current, nonexistent silicon wafer industry in the United States could claim harm by China’s dominance, for example.
The ITC will continue its investigation into AAM, and the Dept. of Commerce will next determine the specifics behind the dumped and subsidized product from China. Commerce’s preliminary CVD decision will likely come in May 2025 and the preliminary AD decision will likely come later in July 2025.
In the original petition, AAAMP requested duties on all active anode materials, whether synthetic, natural or a blend; with or without coating; regardless of whether in powder, dry, liquid or any other form. Subject merchandise can be mixed with silicon or not, but the graphite contained must have a minimum purity content of 90% carbon. The duties could be levied against anode materials whether they’re imported separately, in a compound or in a finished battery.
Commerce recently revealed the mandatory respondents in its CVD investigation: Panasonic Global Procurement China Co. and Shanghai Shaosheng Knitted Sweat. Mandatory respondents in the AD investigation have not yet been decided.
Yeah, got an idea, American supply chains formulated, fostered and expanded within the boundaries of the U.S.. There are several battery chemistry entities within the U.S. right now trying to find industrial partners for a JV of their already designed and bench tested boutique cells and some battery packs for consumer electronics and a few who have crafted larger energy storage and BEV battery packs for in-situ testing. (IT) doesn’t have to be this hard, (IT) does need to get done sooner than later. 45X is there for the alternative energy sector including ‘batteries’, ‘use it’, don’t abuse or play ITC political games and ‘lose it’. Just sayin’, Lead, follow or get out of the way.