On February 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued its final determination in an anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation into imports of natural graphite anode material from China. The investigation, launched in 2025 following a petition by American Active Anode Material Producers, concluded that Chinese suppliers benefited from unfair subsidies and sold graphite in the United States at prices below fair market value.
The Department of Commerce set a countervailing duty rate of about 66.68 percent on Chinese natural graphite anode imports, up from a preliminary 11.58 percent in 2025, and maintained an anti-dumping duty of 93.5 percent. Combined, these measures bring the Commerce-assigned duties to more than 160 percent. Earlier trade measures also remain in place, including a 10 percent tariff under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and 25 percent tariffs under both Section 301 and Section 232. Taken together, industry estimates put the total effective duty at around 220.18 percent.
At this level, the landed cost of Chinese graphite in the U.S. market would more than double relative to invoice value. The United States has limited domestic mining and upgrading capacity for natural graphite and has relied heavily on imports, particularly from China, which dominates global processing of battery-grade material. The higher tariffs are intended to reduce this dependency and support investment in North American mining and refining projects, including new processing plants in states such as Alabama and Tennessee.
Battery producers in the United States have reacted with a mix of support and concern. In the near term, higher duties on Chinese anode material are likely to increase input costs for domestic cell manufacturers that still depend heavily on Chinese processing capacity. Graphite is the largest component by weight in lithium-ion batteries, and if alternative North American supply is not yet available at scale, the tariffs can translate into higher production costs or compressed margins. This creates a potential competitiveness gap relative to Chinese cell manufacturers that continue to source from integrated domestic supply chains.
At the same time, some U.S. battery and materials companies view the tariffs as a necessary intervention to enable long-term investment in domestic anode production. Without trade protection, new refining and upgrading projects in North America may struggle to compete against established Chinese suppliers with structural cost advantages. From this perspective, short-term cost pressure is weighed against the strategic objective of building a more resilient and geographically diversified battery materials ecosystem.
The duties are not yet fully secured. Under U.S. trade procedure, the U.S. International Trade Commission must issue a final injury determination, expected in March 2026. If the Commission confirms material injury to the domestic industry, the duties will remain in force for at least five years. If not, the measures could be revised or withdrawn.
The decision forms part of a broader U.S. strategy to reduce reliance on China for critical battery materials. Policymakers see domestic anode production as a supply chain priority. However, qualification of new graphite sources by battery manufacturers takes time and requires technical validation. There are already indications that some supply chains may shift to intermediate products processed in Chinese-linked facilities outside China, including in Southeast Asia.
A further layer of uncertainty comes from a recent Supreme Court ruling that limited the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a basis for broad tariff measures. The Court held that emergency economic powers do not automatically grant the President independent authority to impose sweeping import duties without clear congressional authorization. While the graphite duties under anti-dumping and countervailing statutes rest on a different legal foundation, the decision reinforces that U.S. tariff policy remains subject to constitutional limits and could face additional legal scrutiny if executive authority is stretched too far.
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