China’s global lithium-ion battery exports reached $65 billion in 2023, up nearly 400 percent from pre-COVID levels in 2019. More than half of these 2023 exports were shipped to the European Union and the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade zone. Chinese li-ion battery exports are largely bound for the European Union and North America.
Chinese exports to USMCA are largely routed through the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, in 2023, the United States directly imported $13.1 billion in lithium-ion batteries from China, accounting for 70 percent all US li-ion battery imports in 2023, as measured in value.
BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - China issued draft rules on Wednesday to regulate its lithium battery market, after rapid expansion in the sector hit industry profits and sparked concerns about overcapacity in international market.
Critically, US restrictions on Chinese li-ion batteries or of electric vehicles, another end use of li-ion batteries, will limit China’s industrial capacity that could readily be repurposed from the civilian industry to its defense industrial base.
China exported $10.8 billion of Li-ion storage batteries to the United States in 2023, accounting for 72 percent of all US imports of the product. Chinese imports are particularly important in the storage market. These li-ion storage batteries are useful for decarbonizing the US power sector and complementing solar generation.
China's robust growth in power battery exports has elevated them to the status of one of the "new three items" in the country's exports, alongside electric passenger vehicles and solar batteries. The EU's Regulation is poised to exert significant influence on Chinese battery manufacturers, effectively compelling them to conform to standards.