Tesla’s request for Japanese aluminium import tariff exemption granted

The US Commerce Department has finally paid ears to Tesla’s request for10 per cent tariff exemption on Japanese aluminium used in the production of battery cells at Gigafactory 1, according to a report.

The California-based automotive company had applied for the exemption on 10 million kg of aluminium produced by Nippon Light Metal Co. claiming that the tariff was increasing the cost of battery cells. The automaker also argued that it could not find the specific alloy in the US to replace the imported aluminium from Japan.

While applying for the tariff exemption, Tesla had mentioned that it would require increasing the import amount of the alloy from 6.4 million kg per annum to 10 million kg this year for ramping up battery cell production. It had also described the alloy in the filling, as follows:

“Alloyed Aluminium Coil, Not Backed, Slit but still Coiled, Hot Rolled then Cold Rolled, 73MM in width, 1MM Thick, Slight Etched on splice end.”

The US Commerce Department finally agreed with Tesla and accepted its request for a tariff waiver.

Lately, Tesla was not having good luck with tariff exemption requests. In early May, the US trade officials had rejected Tesla Inc.'s request for relief from Trump's 25 per cent tariffs on the China-made Autopilot "brain" in the Model 3 and other electric vehicles. Nonetheless, this time, the automaker’s luck turned for aluminium tariff exemption, at least.