The company says it has not sourced any components or materials from China for its U.S. LG Chem, owned by the South Korean electronics giant LG Corp., says that’s nonsense. Last week, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm fretted that China has “got the corner of the market” on batteries and other clean energy components, like solar panels and computer chips. The competition against China worries the White House, where Biden and top energy officials openly voice concern about Beijing’s dominance in the sector. doesn’t have the capacity, and European battery sales are for European customers, so the only other place left is China.” “You’re going to have to import them, because the U.S. won’t be producing enough of its own batteries in the next five years to make up” for the loss of the Georgia factory, said Simon Moores, managing director at Benchmark. China is by far the global leader in battery manufacturing today, with more than 90 major factories, compared with three in the U.S., according to analytics firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. SK Innovation, Georgia’s governor and the state’s two newly elected Democratic senators are pushing the president to dismiss the ITC ruling, warning that Chinese companies may replace the lost battery capacity if the plant is scrapped. government’s primary concern, but we need to recognize that our security is bound up with the security of people all around the world, especially in a pandemic,” the aide said. “The prosperity and security of the American people is the U.S. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is pushing the White House to issue the waiver. Overruling the ITC decision may be necessary for the “prosperity of the American people,” but that argument applies “just as strongly” to the vaccine waiver, said an aide to Sen. And the action would come as the White House resists calls from developing nations at the World Trade Organization to lift intellectual property restrictions for Covid vaccines - sending the message that saving American jobs justifies breaking the rules, while saving lives in developing nations does not. Overturning the ITC decision would allow SK to finish its factory, letting the president brag about saving thousands of jobs in a swing state that he won by less than 12,000 votes and that later elected two Democrats to the Senate, giving the party a razor-thin majority.īut throwing out the ruling would also undermine intellectual property laws that the U.S. The decision is especially tricky for the Biden administration. “If the president does not disapprove of the ITC decision, I think it’s very hard to envision SK staying in the U.S.,” said Carol Browner, who served as EPA administrator during the Clinton administration and White House climate chief under former President Barack Obama and is now working with SK to pressure Biden. trade representative to overrule an ITC decision within 60 days - April 11 in the battery case. Federal law allows the president and the U.S. Although the independent agency gave a two-year grace period for Volkswagen and a four-year cushion for Ford, SK says the ruling will likely force it to abandon the factory. block SK from importing components to build batteries. International Trade Commission ruled in February that SK Innovation stole trade secrets from rival South Korean company LG Chem, and ordered that the U.S. If the plant is completed, the firm says, it will employ 2,600 workers and provide batteries for a suite of Volkswagen vehicles, as well as the electric version of the Ford F-150, the single most popular vehicle in the country.īut construction of the landmark facility is being threatened by an international trade dispute. One of the factories slated to help meet that demand is a $2.6 billion plant in Commerce, Ga., being built by South Korean battery maker SK Innovation.
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