China imposes tariffs on imports from the United States and the new energy industry is limited to be affected

On may9,2019, the U.S. government announced that from may10,2019, the tariff rate on the $200billion list goods imported from China would be increased from 10% to 25%. The above-mentioned US measures have led to the escalation of Sino US economic and trade frictions, violated the consensus between China and the United States on resolving trade differences through consultation, damaged the interests of both sides, and did not meet the common expectations of the international community. Yesterday, the Tariff Commission of the State Council issued the announcement on increasing the tariff rate on some imported goods originating in the United States, and published a list of goods subject to additional tariff on the United States. The tariffs were increased by 25%, 20%, 10% and 5% respectively in four grades. Since June 1, the tariff rate on some imported goods from the United States has been increased.

The SMM new energy research team has sorted out the list of commodities subject to tariff increase, including relevant commodities related to the new energy industry, as follows:

SMM believes that the impact on the new energy industry chain of the commodities involved in the current Sino US trade war is not obvious.

In terms of cobalt, China's Cobalt raw materials are highly dependent on imports. The main source is South Africa. In addition, China is also a centralized exporter of smelting and primary processed products. This tax has little impact on China's Cobalt raw materials and smelting products.

In terms of lithium, China is highly dependent on imports of lithium raw materials, mainly from Australia, some from Brazil and Africa, and has not imported lithium ore from the United States. As for lithium salt, lithium carbonate is imported from South America, while lithium hydroxide is not imported.

In terms of power batteries, the domestic new energy vehicle industry chain has few supporting foreign batteries under the influence of subsidy policies and recommended catalogue. At the same time, most of the high-quality suppliers of foreign batteries come from Japan and South Korea, and the import volume of lithium batteries from the United States is very limited.