Buchanan Announces New Trade Investigation into Imports of Unfairly Priced Active Anode Material from The People’s Republic of China

WASHINGTON (December 2024) - On December 18, 2024, the American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP) filed petitions requesting antidumping and countervailing duties to counter unfairly low priced imports of active anode material.  Active anode material is one of the primary components in lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power electric vehicles, consumer electric products, medical equipment, and various other applications. AAAMP filed the petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) following years of significant volumes of unfairly priced imports of active anode material from China. The petitions allege that the Chinese industry is dumping active anode material in the United States, distorting the U.S. market and preventing the establishment of an American industry. The petitions further allege that the Chinese industry is receiving unfair subsidies which further injure the domestic manufacturers, again preventing the creation of a U.S. industry.

“The Chinese industry’s use of unfair pricing is harming American companies and workers,” said Daniel B. Pickard, International Trade and National Security practice group leader at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and lead counsel for AAAMP. “The domestic industry is committed to opposing these unfair trade practices and ensuring that American manufacturing is able to compete on a level playing field."

Antidumping duties aim to offset the amount a product is sold at less than fair value, or “dumped,” in the United States. The dumping margin is calculated by the Department of Commerce. Countervailing duties are intended to offset unfair subsidies that a foreign government provides in the production of a particular good. The ITC, an independent agency, determines whether the establishment of a domestic industry is materially retarded or if the industry is materially injured as a result of the unfairly traded imports.

The entire investigative process will take approximately one year, with final determinations of dumping, subsidization, and injury likely occurring near the end of 2025. Duties can, however, attach to imports of the active anode material as of the time of the preliminary determinations in the case.

Led by Pickard, the Buchanan team also includes Milton Koch, Claire Webster, and Brandon Custard.

Buchanan has a team of international trade and national security attorneys, and government relations professionals ready to help U.S. manufacturers with U.S. trade remedy laws and trade policy. U.S. AD/CVD tariff laws are one of the only available tools to reestablish an even playing field for American companies and avoid lost sales and profits. Our eBook, Protecting Domestic Producers: A Guide to Antidumping and Countervailing Investigations, shares details on how diverse domestic industries can take advantage of these laws – antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – to combat unfair foreign competition and ensure that the U.S. market is operating under fair and equal conditions.