Ann: NOVONIX Appoints Sharan Burrow AC to Board of Directors, page-57

A few folks on here may recall my lack of confidence that the 301 tariff waiver would have been lifted at recent deadlines. For a number of reasons I'm starting to think that May might be the final extension. Sharan is one of those reasons.

Engaging Sharan while the US has the most union friendly President in the nation's history, in an election year where Biden's reelection is contingent on demonstrating to the working class that he is better for them than the alternative, is very clever. I suspect she will be working very hard on many things, and getting those 301 tariffs on Chinese graphite and anode is going to be one of them. She is a heavy hitter, and when she talks people listen. Meanwhile Trump is throwing around suggestions of 60% tariffs on all Chinese products.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/26/biden-joins-uaw-strike-update-detroit

disallowed/environment/climate-change/there-are-no-jobs-on-a-dead-planet-sharan-burrow-tells-biden-s-summit-20210424-p57m1w.html

It would make sense for many reasons, but another key one is that there is clearly local supply now. OEMs and cell manufacturers have signed sizeable offtakes, so there's no excuse to use Chinese AAM anymore. They've had the carrot, now its time for the stick.

Those tarrifs should mean margins increase by circa 15- 20%. I.e. margins now at 38-48% BEFORE 45x tax credit and BEFORE the battery minerals prices recover in a year or two. Juicy stuff.