US solar firm moving battery manufacturing outside of China to avoid tariffs

San Francisco – Enphase Energy, a US solar and battery systems supplier, is in the process of moving its battery cell manufacturing out of China to avoid

tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump

as part of a wider trade war between the world’s two largest economies. 

“We need to be making cell packs outside of China and that’s what we are going to be focusing on the next year,” chief executive officer Badri Kothandaraman said in an interview with Bloomberg News. He did not specify where the company would move its operations.

While a third of Enphase’s battery assembly operations is currently based in the US, the company gets battery cell packs, a key component, from China, he said. 

Mr Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports on Feb 4, in what he says is part of an effort to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country. China retaliated with levies on US energy and other measures including tightened export control on critical minerals. China accounts for nearly 70 per cent of US battery imports, according to BloombergNEF. 

Enphase said the tariffs would result in a small increase in the company’s costs, resulting in a 2 per cent to 3 per cent boost to how much a home owner will pay for a system. 

“It’s not going to hurt us too much,” Mr Kothandaraman said. BLOOMBERG