Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has decided to delay its announcement to build a new plant in North America following the visit of US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan this week, according to local reports citing an unnamed source close to the company.
Pelosi, currently the third ranked US government official and the highest to visit Taiwan in over 25 years, landed in the Taiwan capital city Taipei on Tuesday night. Beijing, which claims the island as an integral part of its territory, reacted furiously to her visit, saying it was a violation of its national sovereignty.
It was understood CATL had decided to delay until September or October the announcement of a multi billion dollar investment in a North America factory to supply EV batteries to Tesla and Ford, due to the political tensions caused by the Pelosi visit.
The company had chosen to wait until the political temperature between China and the US cooled somewhat before making the announcement.
Last month CATL was reported to be considering Mexico as the location for this expansion into North America, where LG Energy Solution, SK On, Samsung SDI and Panasonic have announced major strategic partnerships and investments over the last year.
