The initial tax rate has been reduced from 920% to 6.55%, and the United States is still inseparable from China's anode materials

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently made a preliminary ruling on countervailing duties on anode materials imported from China.

Huzhou Kaijin New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Shaosheng Knitted Sweat preliminarily ruled that they planned to impose tariffs of 712.03% and 721.03% respectively on the two companies because they did not participate in the lawsuit. The remaining Chinese anode material producers and exporters are subject to an additional tax rate of 6.55%. In response to the case, the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to make a final ruling on countervailing duties on September 29 this year.

The anode material is one of the four core materials of lithium battery, and the current lithium battery anode material is mainly natural graphite and artificial graphite.

The preliminary anti-subsidy ruling against China's anode materials stemmed from a petition filed late last year by the American Anode Material Manufacturers Alliance (AAAMP) with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.

The petition's sponsors include Australian battery materials companies Syrah Technologies LLC and NOVONIX Anode Materials LLC, and Indian battery materials company Epsilon Advanced Materials. The foreign producers/exporters alleged by the applicant include beiteri (835185.BJ), China Baoan (000009.SZ), etc.; The local importers alleged by the applicant include Ford Motor, Tesla, LG Energy Solution, Panasonic, etc.

AAAMP argues that China's dumping of cheap graphite into the global market through state-backed policies and massive subsidies has hurt the U.S. domestic market. It calls for a 920% tariff on natural and synthetic graphite imported from China for the manufacture of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, and initiates a trade investigation.

The tariffs imposed on Chinese anode materials by the latest preliminary ruling are far lower than those demanded in the original petition.

"It's the result of a multi-party game." Liu Yanlong, former secretary general of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, told Jiemian News that the trade survey was originally initiated by the anode material companies that developed in the United States, and for these enterprises, restricting China's anode materials from entering the U.S. market can greatly reduce competition and be conducive to their development.

However, for U.S. battery companies, the anode materials imported from China are more advantageous in terms of price and quality, and restricting their access to the U.S. market is not a good thing for these companies.

With its advantages in product cost performance and industrial chain supporting system, China is currently the world's largest producer and exporter of anode materials.

According to the "White Paper on the Development of China's Lithium-ion Battery Anode Material Industry (2025)" jointly released by the research institute EVTank, Yiwei Economic Research Institute and China Battery Industry Research Institute, the global shipment of anode materials will reach 2.206 million tons in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%. Among them, China's anode material shipments reached 2.115 million tons, and the global proportion further increased to 95.9%.

The Global Times quoted experts as saying that the United States used subsidies as an excuse to attack China, which was essentially out of political considerations. In recent years, the Chinese government has significantly reduced subsidies such as export tax rebates, and there are basically no subsidies in the battery and materials sectors. The essence of the measures taken against China by the United States under the pretext of subsidies is that the United States is worried that once a conflict breaks out between China and the United States, China will be "stuck" in this area.

In response to the current preliminary ruling, Liu Yanlong said that it will not have much impact on Chinese anode materials exported to the United States.

"Even with the addition of this 6.55% tariff, the advantage of China's anode materials still exists." Liu Yanlong said.

In recent years, the U.S. government has continued to introduce restrictive measures against China in the field of anode materials, with a view to building a local anode material supply chain.

Last year, the United States released the results of the four-year review of the additional Section 301 tariffs on China, announcing that on the basis of the original Section 301 tariffs on China, it would further increase the tariffs on imports from China, including natural graphite.

China is also currently controlling graphite exports. On December 3, China's Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement announcing that it would strictly control the export of gallium, germanium, antimony, superhard materials, graphite and other related dual-use items to the United States, and prohibit the export of dual-use items to U.S. military users or military use.