The United States continues its efforts to disentangle its EV supply chain from that of its geopolitical rival China through the establishment of a bipartisan Critical Minerals Policy Working Group that will work to build on the policies already set in motion earlier by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Per reporting by Automotive News, the Working Group will aim “to create transparency into [sic] U.S. supply-chain dependency for critical minerals and develop a package of investments, regulatory reforms, and tax incentives to reduce that dependency,” according to a House select committee on China statement.
The Inflation Reduction Act already began efforts to loosen the stranglehold of Chinese suppliers over critical minerals needed for EV production. Its strict limits on the amount of China-sourced battery materials came into effect on January 1st of this year. This caused many electric vehicles to lose their eligibility for the $7,500 Clean Vehicle tax credit, which is intended to encourage adoption of electrified transport.
Back in 2022, the Biden administration earmarked $3.16 billion in funding to help develop the domestic electric vehicle battery supply chain in the U.S. In spring 2023, America and Japan signed a trade pact enabling free trade in cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel between the two countries, while agreeing to limit use of Chinese materials.
General Motors has been launching its own initiatives to develop a North American supply chain for its EV battery production. An alliance with South Korean company LG Chem saw an $18.6 billion agreement signed with the supplier in February 2024, with LG’s Tennessee cathode plant helping to supply a significant portion of the battery material for the 200,000 and 300,000 electric vehicles powered by Ultium battery technology that GM plans to produce during 2023.
GM is also working with Posco Chemical of Korea to build a cathode active material (CAM) factory in Quebec. A second factory is likely to follow somewhere in North America, with the capacity to supply enough CAM annually for about 360,000 Ultium-powered electric vehicles.
The new Critical Minerals Policy Working Group will seek to expand similar initiatives to further reduce dependence on Chinese materials. The House committee chair noted that “America’s reliance on the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the critical mineral supply chain would quickly become an existential vulnerability in the event of a conflict.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related political news, GM electric vehicle news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Should’ve been a thing 5+ years ago.
Yeah, but Trump wasn’t really into promoting EV issues, although some of his tariffs might have helped some to get industry to look for other supplies. But this specific area (promoting EVs) wasn’t a focus of interest.
Should have been done 35 years ago when the Tienanmen Square massacre happened. That right there should have been the initial red flag into this stupid and severely flawed thinking that the country would “democratize” one day. Still waiting on that one day and instead under Xi they have become even more like Maos China.
How many carts did they put before this EV horse? Seriously, WTF?
You realize this is an industry wide problem, and one that resulted from the popularity of EVs (including ones with larger and larger batteries). It’s not like GM is going to go out and start mining minerals to produce cars.
Of course it’s an industry wide problem. You realize even many of us peons here said that this would be one of the many issues with as hard and fast as they were trying to force EVs to happen. Yet here we are. The industry has not even managed to hit their stated EV sales goals to this point and this is one for the many problems popping up.
It’s almost like some people don’t think through the real world logistics, issues, and what’s physically and financially possible to do in a given amount of time.
iPhones don’t have the tower infrastructure to support service throughout the country. There isnt enough app support, battery life isn’t there yet. Like everyone in the industry said, the country isn’t ready for an expensive smart phone and it is idiotic that Steve Jobs is pushing this product out before it and the public is ready.
It’s almost like some people don’t think through the real world logistics, issues, and what’s physically and financially possible to do in a given amount of time!
didn’t Trump say build it in America ,, the moron running our country today could care less he has ruined EVERTHING
I concur…if only we knew who the actual moron running the country is. The elder abuse victim being paraded around like Weekend at Bernie’s clearly ain’t driving the bus.
USA should be self sufficient period, never having to rely on any other countries. This is the very reason we are in the conditions we are in now. Having to reply on other countries makes about as much sense as other countries owning property in the USA. Maybe we should sell China some more of our prime farm land, that might help!
@dman
Did you know a contract is property?…
Yay politics! Embargoes subsidies and tariffs oh my! Unintended consequences much?
Transparency regulates markets through consumer Public Relations- tuff to do globally, even with ‘free trade’ partners. Partners being State Capitalists (Soviet style capitalism).
I think Adam Smith would drive a large Cadillac sedan.
Good news US auto manufacturers! Nobody wants EVs so if China cuts you off, it’s win-win for everybody.
“The Inflation Reduction Act” LOLOLOLOL. Step 1; stop printing money out of thin air a-holes and the problem will solve itself. Step 2, nationalize the Federal Reserve and put the USA back in charge of their own money rather than borrowing every single dollar from a handful of private families. Step 3; go back to the gold standard so fiat money goes away forever.
There, I just stopped inflation forever.
@jim
Major drivers of inflation are insurance and energy costs fyi
… for the individual(s) that dislike my comment, the question one might want to ask is why would these factors be the reasons for inflation= policy of their oversight… Which should lead to many more questions of structure and history.
That’s why the field of economics is referred to as the dismal science in academia.
At least there’s a sodium battery manufacturer in Michigan.
Don’t worry about inflation. The government is going to solve that by creating and spending more money.
Biden’s chief economist, Jared Bernstein said “The US government can’t go bankrupt because we can print our own money”.
I was about to say…. Stop making EV’s…. Problem 100% solved. Course crazy Brandon is bought and paid for by china, hence the EV mandate…. Got to buy more from CHINA!!! 👹
“Smartest person” our Big Guy knows may run low on crack and hooker money if he can’t deal with China.
Does anyone else think these political trolls have figured out that they can reload the page and upvote their own posts?… Or downvote others…
Bob certainly hasn’t.
Lol
Lol, it worked!!
You must not know how Chinese troll farms work. They have multiple accounts just so they can upvote a comment or fellow wumao posts multiple time. Atleast this is how it works on more popular platforms like YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, etc. You seriously think a stupid comment like “America sux” is capable of garnering thousands of likes?
How sad that a site called GM Authority is becoming a site for extreme political commentary. Metrolix needs a moderator who can remove comments which are completely or primarily political in nature. This site is quickly becoming “not worth the electrons it’s printed on” and will be abandoned by people who actually care about cars and car manufacturing. Some of you need to retreat to Truth Social and continue talking to yourself and pretending you know what you are talking about.
The real problem is that “the powers that be” have made the entire auto industry political with the EV push, outright ICE bans, and other mandates that effectively ban ICE by making standards unattainable without EVs. I’m willing to bet most of the folks here don’t want politics involved in this movement at all.
You can also say the same thing for every industry now. If you haven’t looked at the cinema and video game industries lately, they are an absolute mess b/c of politics. WE didn’t shove this stuff into everything.
I have anxiety issues. Mostly issues involving fears of the future and fears of not being able to support my family. Many of them due to past circumstances and some due to my parents escaping dictatorships coming to America in search for a better life (hence why I take the China issue seriously and keep telling people to not take their personal freedoms for granted). And cars were a form of therapy for me. Whenever I became engulfed with anxiety, I turned to sites like this, CarScoops, Motor Biscuit, Autoblog, etc. These days however, I can’t even do that now.
“Extreme political commentary” would be quoting H. L. Mencken. What’s going on here (thus far) is civil political discourse. EVs have become 100% political. Trying to separate politics from forced electrification now would be like trying to take 10% away from the Big Guy. There’s no way to avoid it so you’re just gonna have to put on your big boy pants and occasionally endure opinions that differ from your own like the rest of us do yours.
Or maybe they could make you a moderator Steven and then you could live here alone in your echo chamber saving us all from wrongthink.
I have to touch on this little comment, as well. “…and will be abandoned by people who actually care about cars and car manufacturing”. The reason I’m here and I suspect many like me are, too, is because cars are a lifelong passion and hobby to us. I have pictures of me as a 3 year old geeking out over getting a ride in my grandma’s Corvette. I’ve done maintenance and/or modified every vehicle I’ve owned over the decades. I’ve drag raced countless times and road raced and been to more car shows/meetups/cruises than I can possibly remember. I’ve taught and continued to teach my kids how to work on their own cars. You can literally GTFO with saying we aren’t car people. Being a “car guy” is the ENTIRE reason I’m here and I’m sick of watching politicians and out of touch execs trying to destroy my lifelong passion.
I don’t think they have a choice….. yay know, Amazon web services and google add services ain’t exactly non partisan 😳