Beijing is Seventeen (2019)planning to revise its rules controlling global access to battery manufacturing technologies in a tit-for-tat move after major Western economies including the European Union and the United States decided to impose punitive tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. Chinese companies would have to obtain a government permit to export technologies used to produce lithium-phosphate-iron (LFP) cathode materials, a key component in iron-based, affordable lithium-ion batteries, according to an annual export control catalogue updated by the Ministry of Commcerce on Jan. 2. The Chinese government is also looking to place new constraints on local companies’ ability to sell technologies used in extracting lithium from hard rock spodumene ore. The proposed measures are open to public review until Feb. 1. [South China Morning Post]
