Some of Australia’s largest nickel producers are increasingly concerned that the Biden administration will allow their big Indonesian rivals access to incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act – a huge subsidy to encourage the transition to clean energy – as early as next month.
“A free-trade agreement on nickel with Indonesia would significantly reduce the attractiveness of investing in countries with higher ESG standards and leave consumers with no choice but to use dirty nickel.” “Indonesia also has laws restricting trade in critical minerals, and last year was publicly proposing an OPEC-like cartel for nickel-producing countries – policies that are clearly antithetical to ‘free trade agreements’,” the letter, obtained by“The US and allies such as Australia and Canada are actively scaling domestic nickel production.
Ford wants to use Chinese battery technology at a $US3.5 billion plant it is building in Michigan and is pushing for a flexible interpretation of the foreign-entity provision; GM is lobbying for a strict interpretation.