US Trade Representative halts Chinese EV and battery tariffs

Back in May, the US Trade Representative's office proposed to quadruple import tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100% and batteries from 7.5% to 25% in order to protect local manufacturing. The new tariffs should have gone into effect on August 1 2024, but the USTR has delayed the implementation of the tariffs.

The delay is due to the 1,100 public comments received regarding the new tariff changes. The USTR simply needs more time to review all comments and take them into consideration.

However, the delay doesn't seem to be a big one as USTR expects to review the comments by the end of this month and changes will take effect two weeks after a final decision is made.

USTR warned that in addition to EVs and lithium-ion batteries, tariffs will affect some steel and aluminum products.

Some believe that the new tariffs on Chinese batteries and EVs won't do significant damage to the foreign manufacturers because the current 25% import tax on EVs and the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act alone have limited Chinese imports significantly.

Source