Ruling Confirms Unfair Trade Practices and Finds Chinese Producers Are Violating Anti-Dumping Rules
Increased U.S.-Imposed Tariffs Highlight Strategic Need and Opportunity for Domestic Anode Producers
CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Westwater Resources, Inc. (NYSE American: WWR), an energy technology and battery-grade natural graphite company (“Westwater” or the “Company”), announced today its support of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“DOC”) preliminary determination in the anti-dumping investigation of graphite-based anode materials imported from the People’s Republic of China. 
This ruling represents the second major decision by the DOC targeting practices by Chinese producers. While the initial May 2025 ruling addressed countervailing duties and determined that Chinese companies were receiving unfair government subsidies, this latest decision concludes that Chinese producers have been selling graphite-based anode materials into the U.S. market at unfairly low prices - thereby harming domestic producers.
“This second decision by the DOC is even more impactful than the first,” said Jon Jacobs, Chief Commercial Officer of Westwater. “The cumulative effect of the new anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, and other tariffs in effect makes it economically clear that batteries built in the U.S. should use graphite made in the U.S.”
With the new rates layered on top of previously established duties and tariffs, total import penalties on Chinese graphite-anode material now exceed 100%, and in some cases are much higher, depending on the producer:
- Section 301 tariffs: 25%
- Retaliatory tariffs: 30%
- DOC countervailing duties: 11.55 – 721%
- DOC anti-dumping duties: 93.5%
- TOTAL tariffs/duties: 160 – 869.5%
The initial May ruling was updated July 3, 2025, increasing the countervailing duty rate from 6.55% to 11.55%, further strengthening U.S. trade protections for this critical mineral.
“These two rulings by the DOC are distinct from legislative-driven global trade tariffs,” added Jacobs. “They reflect long-term support for U.S.-based graphite production. That kind of clarity and pricing stability is what's needed to finance and build a domestic graphite industry that will compete globally over the long term.”
About Westwater Resources, Inc.
Westwater Resources is an energy technology company that is focused on developing battery-grade natural graphite. Westwater Resources’ primary project is the Kellyton Graphite Processing Plant that is under construction in east-central Alabama. In addition, Westwater Resources’ Coosa Graphite Deposit is the largest and most advanced natural flake graphite deposit in the contiguous United States — and is located across 41,965 acres (~17,000 hectares) in Coosa County, Alabama. For more information, visit westwaterresources.net.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words and phrases such as “initial,” “preliminary,” “latest,” “more impactful,” “cumulative,” “economically clear,” “layered on top,” “exceed,” “updated,” “increasing,” “strengthening,” “long-term support,” and other similar words or phrases. Forward looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning: the importance of critical minerals including battery-grade graphite; establishing a graphite industry in the U.S.; tariffs associated with the importation of natural graphite into the U.S. including the percentage of those tariffs and the countries for which tariffs will apply; the Company’s business plans for its Kellyton Graphite Processing Plant; and efforts to manage existing off-take agreements or to put new supply agreements into place for the products from that Plant. The Company cautions that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of the Company; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such suggested results will be realized. Those uncertainties and other factors are discussed in Westwater’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and subsequent securities filings, and they could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations.
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