Western countries continue to use their political “weapons” to stop the expansion of the Chinese electric car. After the tariffs, the United States has brought in the world’s largest battery manufacturer, the Chinese giant CATLon a blacklist.
For practical purposes, this decision should not pose any problem for CATL at a business level, but it may affect its reputation.
CATL does not agree with the United States Government
He United States Department of Defense has just included Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars in the world, on its list of “Chinese military companies.” Electric models from BMW, Daimler AG, Hyundai, Honda, Li Auto, NIO, Polestar, Stellantis, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo or XPeng.
Regarding Spain, CATL is going to invest 4.1 billion euros together with Stellantis to bring a battery factory with Chinese technology to Zaragoza, the largest gigafactory in Spain.
It remains to be seen how CATL is affected by USA Consider it a military company, but it is something that could interfere with CATL’s investments outside China and in this company’s relations with other companies, including some American ones, such as Tesla, especially now that military tensions have grown throughout the world. planet.
The only thing that this decision means in the business field, beyond the effects it has at the reputation level, is that the United States Department of Defense cannot do business with a company that is included on this black list.
Last year the United States included DJI on this list and in 2025, in addition to CATL, it has also included Huawei and the Chinese technology company Tencent, the owners of the League of Legends company, which has fallen in the stock market more than 7%. Tencent has also called the Pentagon’s decision a mistake, like CATL. For its part, CATL shares have fallen 7.85% since January 7, when it appeared on the blacklist.
Immediately, CATL reacted to this decision made by the US Pentagon and issued a statement:
“We learned that the US Department of Defense had designated CATL as a “Chinese Military Company” on January 7, 2025.
CATL has never participated in any military-related business or activity, so this designation by the Department of Defense is a mistake. It does not restrict CATL from conducting business with entities other than the Department of Defense and is not expected to have a materially adverse impact on our business. “We will proactively communicate with the Department of Defense to address the false designation, including legal action if necessary, to protect the interests of our company and shareholders as a whole.”
When the Chinese car had no weight in the global automobile industry, it was not a problem for anyone, but that has changed. Just a few years ago, before the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese car began to be a threat and now it has become a very serious problem for traditional manufacturers.
Inevitably, the Chinese car has also become a headache for Western countries and is now another issue on the political agenda of many governments. The automobile industry moves a lot of money and the fact that the Chinese car is expanding so much and so quickly is not good for the economy of the countries that have the traditional car brands that have dominated the industry until now.
In other words: there is so much money at stake in the automobile industry and the Chinese car scares Western countries so much that their governments are moving to protect their interests and try to stop its expansion through politics. The truth is that, in the middle of 2025, it may already be too late, but some countries have decided to use all their heavy political artillery.
Last year we saw it with the tariffs from Europe, the United States and Canada on Chinese electric cars. A few months later, it is clear that it is not enough to stop the Chinese automobile industry, so the United States has decided to go further.
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Image: Motorpasión and The Digital Artist
Source: www.motorpasion.com
