Alan Swan, President of Panasonic Energy North America, a supplier of Tesla batteries, said Thursday during a Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company’s“Top priority” is to ensure that its us-made automotive batteries“Are not dependent on the Chinese supply chain”. Panasonic’s American plants now produce batteries not only for Tesla but also for other carmakers. Allan Swan said companies had to look at supply chains for tariffs that might be imposed under Donald Trump.
Panasonic produces most of its batteries in the United States with close ties to overseas suppliers, some from China and some from Canada, the report said. Donald Trump had threatened to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese imports, and more recently 25% on imports from neighbouring Canada and Mexico. Reuters had revealed that Donald Trump’s transition team had proposed tariffs across the globe on battery materials. Donald Trump dismissed a report in the Washington Post that Donald Trump’s staff were considering narrowing the scope of the tariffs.
A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report in October argued that the Chinese had dominated the global battery industry for the past decade, while the US battery industry, which had lagged far behind, was “In critical condition”, a new generation of battery technology is urgently needed in the United States. Lyten, a US start-up, plans to invest $1bn in the world’s first large-scale lithium-sulphur battery plant in Nevada, which is expected to start production in the 2027, the Financial Times has revealed. Not only can lithium-sulfur batteries challenge existing lithium batteries in terms of performance, but they can be produced without the use of raw materials such as graphite, nickel, manganese and cobalt, the report said, china dominates the global supply chain for these raw materials.