Tariffs Fail to Charge Confidence in Battery Prices

Recent tariff actions by the Trump administration have caused a sharp increase in battery prices according to the Q2 storage pricing insights report from ANSA, a solar and storage company.

This battery price spike is the sharpest single jump in battery energy storage prices since 2021, including the time period of the post-pandemic supply chain disruptions.

As of 2024, China currently accounts for approximately 60 percent of the world's lithium ion battery exports that are used in electric vehicles, as well as stationary battery storage systems.

In 2018, the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on batteries from China, In January of 2020, those tariffs on lithium ion batteries rose from 7.5 percent to 15 percent. In May of 2024, they increased to 25 percent.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A deadly border feud between Thailand's U.S.-trained military and Cambodia's Chinese-assisted troops has resulted in a surprise agreement with Phnom Penh retreating and abandoning a freshly dug trench after one Cambodian soldier was killed and both sides reinforced their armies in the disputed Emerald Triangle jungle.

The face-to-face gunfight at the border also sparked questions about Bangkok's fragile civilian-led coalition government and its ability to control Thailand's politicized military which has, when displeased, unleashed 13 coups since the 1930s.

While villagers hurriedly dug schoolyard bunkers, and thousands of travelers were left stranded due to temporary checkpoint closures, Thailand announced on Sunday (June 8) that Cambodian troops agreed to withdraw to their pre-confrontation positions and make other concessions.

"Cambodia agreed to fill in the trenches, to restore the area to its natural state," the Bangkok Post reported on June 9.

The Thai Army displayed photos of what it said showed a 2,100-ft.-long (650-meter) trench dug by Cambodian troops in the disputed zone. 

America is heading towards a Constitutional crisis, with the President of the United States, on his own instance, federalizing the California National Guard and sending in the Marines to support the quasi-military fugitive operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), rounding up thousands of Angelenos in one of the most densely populated Hispanic and Latino counties in America—Los Angeles.

The President was not asked by local officials for help in controlling violent protests, perhaps because Los Angeles city and county together employ nearly 20,000 sworn law enforcement officers, trained and experienced in handling ambiguous and confrontational situations.

Yet, the President chose to bypass local authority, sending in 4,000 Guardsmen and 700 Marines under the authority of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, dealing with the Armed Forces, Chapter 13, which defines military operations in an insurrection, a violent uprising against the government.