US EV battery imports from Korea top 1,300% as tariffs push shift from China
The United States imported a record volume of EV batteries from Korea in the first six months of the year, marking a quadruple-digit on-year surge, as it seeks to reduce reliance on China amid ongoing tariff rows.
Korea’s exports of lithium-ion batteries for EVs to the United States posted a record high of $234.5 million from January to June, a 1,320 percent spike from the same period of last year, according a Korea JoongAng Daily analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data provided by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank focused on promoting trans-Atlantic cooperation and international security. Compared to the first half of 2023, it’s a staggering 2,850 percent jump.
But over the same period, U.S. imports of Chinese EV batteries fell sharply by 58 percent to $683 million from $1.63 billion a year earlier. The drop was especially steep in May, when U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff tension with China peaked, with monthly imports plunging nearly 85 percent from $390 million to just $58.7 million.
Despite the drop-off, China still stands as the largest source of EV battery imports to the United States, although market shares have shifted dramatically. Of total U.S. EV battery imports, China accounted for 38.1 percent during the January-June period, far from its 72 percent claim last year, while Korea’s share surged from just 0.73 percent a year ago to 13.1 percent.
A similar trend is clearly visible in lithium-ion batteries for energy storage systems (ESS), for which demand is booming in the U.S. market, triggered by AI and data centers.
U.S. imports of Korean-made ESS batteries rose 84 percent on year to $934.4 million in the first half, with Korea’s market share increasing from 7.5 percent to 11 percent.
While imports of Chinese ESS batteries also grew 23 percent over the same period, reaching $5.65 billion, China’s share declined to 67 percent from 69 percent, suggesting that the United States is upping ESS battery imports but moving to reduce its reliance on Chinese suppliers and turning instead to Korea and Japan.
In June, U.S. imports of Korean storage batteries reached a record $243 million, while Chinese imports of $441 million were the lowest since April 2022.
Experts believe that with Trump’s uncompromising posture showing no indication of abatement, this shift may herald a strategic advantage for Korean battery manufacturers, who have steadily made substantial investments to boost manufacturing capacity in the United States.
Joseph Webster, senior fellow at the Global Energy Center of the Atlantic Council, adding that it, said:
U.S. tariffs are shutting the door for Chinese firms but opening one for Korean producers,
“fuels a Korean export boom.While tariffs on Korean batteries have risen due to the Trump administration’s decision to levy 15 percent across-the-board tariffs, fees on Chinese products are much higher.”
The U.S. government currently levies a 38.4 percent tariff on Chinese EV batteries, with a 10 percent “baseline tariff” newly added in April. Tariffs on ESS batteries stand at 40.9 percent and are set to increase to 58.4 percent next year. Korean products, which enjoyed a zero percent tariff for decades under the Korea-U.S. FTA, are now subject to a 15 percent tariff.
LG Energy Solution currently operates sole and joint-venture plants across Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. Samsung SDI has been constructing two factories with Stellantis and a facility with General Motors, all in Indiana. SK On runs two factories in Georgia and is preparing to start operations at a plant with Ford Motor in Kentucky in the third quarter.
Once all planned facilities are completed, the combined U.S. battery production capacity of the three Korean firms is expected to reach 600 gigawatt-hours, enough to power roughly 7.5 million high-performance EVs.
LG Energy Solution recently signed a $4.3 billion battery contract with a buyer suspected to be Tesla, its biggest ESS deal, beating all Chinese competitors in the U.S. market. It is already mass-producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for ESS at its Michigan plant and plans to establish 30 gigawatt-hours of local capacity by 2026
Samsung SDI plans to begin local production of ESS cells in the fourth quarter by utilizing part of its production lines at the Indiana plant. SK On also said it will convert some lines at U.S. facilities to manufacture ESS-dedicated LFP batteries and is currently negotiating gigawatt-scale supply contracts with multiple U.S. customers.
The U.S. ESS market is projected to grow from $3.68 billion this year to $5.09 billion by 2030, according to data from the global market research firm Mordor Intelligence.
Choi Jae-hee, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, said:
The tariff war is likely to reduce imports of Chinese batteries into the United States, which could be positive for Korean battery firms,
“But to capitalize on the space left by the exclusion of Chinese competitors, Korean companies must strengthen their competitiveness, in particular in LFP technologies, which are widely used in ESS applications.”
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US EV battery imports from Korea top 1,300% as tariffs push shift from China, source
