The US Commerce Department has agreed to Tesla‘s request to waive 10% tariffs on imported aluminum from Japan used in the manufacture of battery cells at Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory, government documents show.
The Palo Alto, California-based company made the request in April and said the aluminum is produced by Nippon Light Metal Co and was seeking a tariff exclusion for 10 million kilograms annually.
The Commerce Department said in a document dated June 5 and posted in recent days that the aluminum “is not produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality.” The waiver is good for one year. Tesla did not immediately comment.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)