US tariffs expected to have little impact on battery maker

Gotion High-Tech Co Ltd, a leading Chinese electric vehicle battery maker, said on Friday that the United States' latest tariffs will likely have "limited" impact on Chinese battery makers and that the company's US factories are expected to continue to "go smoothly".

Ray Chen, vice-president of Gotion's US business, told China Daily that new tariffs on Chinese batteries will have a limited impact on China's battery sector, and that such an impact seemed only to be symbolic for Chinese companies.

"No matter how much tariff that the US imposes, Chinese battery makers still have an obvious cost advantage there. In other words, the tariff will not weaken competitiveness of Chinese batteries in the US market in the short term," he said.

Chen disclosed to China Daily that the company's factory in the US state of Illinois is expected to "mass produce module battery packs by the end of this year".

Last year, the company, which is based in Hefei, Anhui province, announced plans to build a new $2-billion gigafactory in Illinois. The investment will be supported by a "Reimagining Energy and Vehicles" incentive package, a new "Invest in Illinois" fund, and "other incentives" from the US worth a total of $536 million.

Amid market rumors that Gotion's factories in Michigan and Illinois have been held up due to geopolitical tensions, Chen said that all of its US factories are "going smoothly as expected".

"We have been taking very proactive efforts with local US governments to deal with some temporary challenges and they are all very supportive of our business there," he said. "For us, globalization is an irresistible trend and any protectionism policies or geopolitical impacts are only short term. They won't stop us in going global."

The company said earlier that it aims to ship an overseas production capacity of 100 GWh by 2027.