The US Department of Commerce has made a preliminary ruling that imports of anode-grade graphite from China are being dumped in the US market, and has preliminarily imposed a 93.5% anti-dumping duty while also advancing its countervailing duty investigation on Chinese imports of anode materials.
On July 17 local time, the US Department of Commerce announced the preliminary ruling of its anti-dumping investigation into China’s graphite anode material imports. It determined that Chinese producers have been selling graphite anode materials to the U.S. market at unfairly low prices, thereby harming the interests of U.S. domestic producers. The final determination of the anti-dumping case is scheduled to be announced on December 5, 2025.
Downstream electric vehicle companies have explicitly opposed this tariff policy. U.S. EV giant Tesla has tried to block the imposition of the tariffs, arguing that the company relies on imports of Chinese graphite and that the U.S. graphite industry has not yet developed sufficiently to meet automakers’ required quality standards and supply volumes. After the July 17 announcement, Tesla’s stock price fell by 0.7%.
Anode graphite refers to anode materials with graphite as the main component. It is one of the four key components of EV power batteries, playing a role in storing and releasing energy within the battery. Anode materials include natural graphite, synthetic graphite, silicon-based materials, and hard carbon, among others.
According to US Commerce Department, from 2021 to 2023, China exported 61,000 tons, 103,500 tons, and 84,300 tons of active anode materials to the U.S., with trade values of $143 million, $380 million, and $347 million respectively. Specifically for graphite, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that between 2020 and 2023, 43% of the natural graphite imported by the U.S. came from China.
The trade case was initially filed by the American Active Anode Material Producers Association in December 2024, claiming that China dominates the global active anode material market, producing about 97% of the world’s anode materials. The association accused Chinese companies of using state subsidies and unfair pricing strategies to export active anode materials to the U.S. at prices below fair market value, disrupting the U.S. market and hindering the development of domestic industries.
Consequently, the association submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission for countervailing duty and anti-dumping investigations on Chinese active anode materials. In February this year, the International Trade Commission issued a preliminary ruling, determining that China suppressed the establishment of the U.S. graphite industry by exporting graphite at artificially depressed prices.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Commerce is conducting a countervailing duty investigation on imports of Chinese active anode materials. On May 20 local time, the Department of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling in the countervailing duty investigation, proposing to impose a 6.5% tariff on all Chinese imports of this product. The final ruling is expected on September 29 this year, with the International Trade Commission set to make its determination on November 13. If both the Department of Commerce and the ITC issue final rulings, the tariff order against China will be announced on November 20.
Behind the trade investigation against Chinese graphite is the hope of North American graphite companies to expand their business in the U.S. and create local demand. “The cumulative effect of new anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, and other tariffs economically makes it clear that batteries produced in the U.S. should use U.S.-made graphite,” Westwater Resources, a U.S. natural graphite company, responded to the Commerce Department’s decision on July 17.
The U.S. already has some synthetic graphite production capacity. North American graphite producer NOVONIX is increasing its annual production capacity of high-performance synthetic graphite to 50,000 tons. Anovion Technologies has commercial capacity in Illinois and plans to build a factory with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons, with an investment of $800 million. Epsilon Advanced Materials plans to build a 50,000-ton-per-year plant in Bolivia, North Carolina, expected to start operations in 2026 and reach full production by 2031.
In terms of natural graphite, the latest report from the U.S. Geological Survey points out that in 2024 the U.S. did not produce any natural graphite, with an import dependency rate of 100%.
Currently, five companies in the U.S. are exploring or developing graphite mining projects, one of which announced a preliminary economic assessment in October 2024, planning to produce 47,000 tons of graphite concentrate annually. Another company, Syrah Technologies, began commercial production of spherical graphite in February, importing graphite raw materials from its mine in Mozambique, Africa, and processing them domestically in the U.S. The initial annual capacity is 11,300 tons, with plans to expand to 45,000 tons per year.