London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

S.Korean battery makers agree $1.8 billion settlement, aiding Biden's EV push

S.Korean battery makers agree $1.8 billion settlement, aiding Biden's EV push

South Korean battery makers LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation Co agreed on Sunday to settle disputes over electric-vehicle (EV) battery technology, avoiding a potential setback for U.S. EV ambitions.

The settlement after marathon talks by affiliates of two of South Korea’s biggest conglomerates was announced just hours before a Sunday night deadline for President Joe Biden’s administration to decide whether to take the rare step of reversing a U.S. International Trade Commission decision (ITC).

In a statement, Biden called the settlement “a win for American workers and the American auto industry.... We need a strong, diversified and resilient U.S.-based electric vehicle battery supply chain”.

The core dispute had threatened the EV plans of Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG , as well as a Georgia plant that is key to the growing industry.

The resolution is also a win for Biden, who has made boosting EVs and U.S. battery production a top priority. The global auto industry is racing to develop EVs, and Biden has proposed spending $174 billion to hike their sales and expand charging infrastructure.

SK Innovation agreed to pay LG Energy Solution, a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd, 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) - 500 billion won each this year and next, and royalties for at least six years.

“We expect our payment plan will not be financially burdensome,” an SK Innovation official told Reuters.

The companies agreed to drop all litigation in the United States and South Korea and not to raise further lawsuits against each other for 10 years.

“The two companies now can coexist in the global market and compete in good faith,” LG Energy Solution said in a statement. SK said it would invest actively both in South Korea and abroad now that uncertainties for its EV battery business in the United States have been cleared up.

The U.S. Office of U.S. Trade Representative had faced a Sunday night deadline on whether to take the rare step of reversing a U.S. International Trade Commission decision unless the companies had agreed a deal.

The Biden administration, Volkswagen and Ford had been pushing the Korean companies to settle.

DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLICAN LOBBYING FROM GEORGIA


Trade Representative Katherine Tai was personally involved in the settlement discussions, urging the companies to come to a resolution, the sources said.

“I congratulate both companies for working through their significant differences to resolve this dispute, which builds confidence in their reliability and responsibility as suppliers to the U.S. auto industry,” Tai said in a statement after LG and SK announced the settlement.

“We are pleased the two battery suppliers at the center of this recent trade dispute have come together and solved their differences,” Volkswagen said in a statement on Sunday.

“We are pleased that SK Innovation and LG Energy Solution have settled their differences,” Ford said in a statement.

BITTER DISPUTE


In the bitter two-year dispute, LG lost to SK in a bid for VW orders, then accused SK of stealing trade secrets by poaching nearly 80 of its employees. LG filed a complaint against SK in 2019, and both sides hired numerous lawyers and consultants to make their case to the Biden administration.

The ITC in February sided with LG after the company accused SK of misappropriating trade secrets related to EV battery technology. It issued a 10-year-import ban but allowed SK to import components for batteries for Ford’s EV F-150 program for four years, and VW’s North American EVs for two years.

In March, SK vowed to walk away from the $2.6 billion Georgia battery plant, which is under construction, if the ITC decision was not overturned. LG said in March it could handle the battery needs of automakers if SK abandoned the Georgia plant.

Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh wrote in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday that if the ITC decision were left in place, it could “reduce U.S. battery capacity and delay the transition to electric vehicles.”

Georgia’s two newly elected Democratic U.S. senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, have repeatedly pressed the South Korean companies to reach agreement. The state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, had urged Biden to intervene.

SK’s plant in the town of Commerce, 110 km (70 miles) northeast of Atlanta, will employ nearly 2,600, the largest foreign investment in the state’s history at nearly $2.6 billion, Kemp said. “Simply put: the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians are now in your hands.”

LG Energy Solution is nearing completion of an Ohio cell manufacturing plant with General Motors Co and is close to announcing plans to build a $2.3 billion second facility in Tennessee, sources told Reuters.

In March, LG announced $4.5 billion investment plans for its U.S. battery production business over the next four years.

($1 = 1,120.9800 won)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×