The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has made an affirmative determination in its preliminary antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations concerning active anode material from China.
Battery diagram from UL.
The American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP) filed its AD/CVD petitions with the Dept. of Commerce and U.S. ITC in December 2024, requesting investigations into active anode material (AAM) used in lithium-ion energy storage and EV batteries. AAAMP claimed that China’s dominance on AAM production has prohibited the domestic market from establishing competitive operations.
The ITC found some merit behind this claim, indicating that the U.S. AAM industry has been “materially retarded” by dumped and subsidized imports from China. Whereas previous AD/CVD cases in the solar panel space could prove a clear “before” and “after” level of harm once dumped Chinese product entered the United States, the AAM industry does not yet have significant product output to compare. Today’s affirmative preliminary decision by the ITC sets up a unique opportunity for other similar products to allege material retardation of domestic industries — the current, nonexistent silicon wafer industry in the United States could claim harm by China’s dominance, for example.
The ITC will continue its investigation into AAM, and the Dept. of Commerce will next determine the specifics behind the dumped and subsidized product from China. Commerce’s preliminary CVD decision will likely come in May 2025 and the preliminary AD decision will likely come later in July 2025.
In the original petition, AAAMP requested duties on all active anode materials, whether synthetic, natural or a blend; with or without coating; regardless of whether in powder, dry, liquid or any other form. The group has generalized that anode materials typically have a maximum size of 80 microns, an energy density of at least 330 milliamp-hours per gram and a degree of graphitization of 80% or greater. Subject merchandise can be mixed with silicon or not, but the graphite contained must have a minimum purity content of 90% carbon. The duties could be levied against anode materials whether they’re imported separately, in a compound or in a finished battery.
