RE:RE:RE:RE:Uhmmm...MaterialsMan,
You stated "Up to now, even with all the bluster from either side, nothing has stemmed the flow of battery materials coming into North America from China."
Yes. That is precisely what the U.S. and Canada situated automotive manufacturers and their respective battery cells manufacture partners have become somwhat complacent in believing, i.e. that for two years the foreign entities of concern would be allowed by the Chinese government leadership to keep selling into and supporting the further development of what is the relatively only nascent North American battery materials supply chain.
The U.S. Government representatives believed that they were successful in negotiating with the Chinese leadership, in order to extend the time frame during which North American automakers would be allowed to wean themselves off China associated foreign entities of concern, FEOCs.
The U.S. and Canada actually managed to set themselves up to have the very China made and sustained foundation pulled out from underneath the North American battery-electric automotive manufacturing industry.
In reality, the North American battery-electric automotive manufacturing industry players, their respective battery cells manufacturing partners (Japanese and Korean companies, etc) and all the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars of various investments in building out the North American link to what is a China dominated global battery materials and battery cells manufacturing supply chain (and let us not forget the trillions of USDs directed toward supporting the building out of what is a relatively nascent battery-electric powered vehicles manufacturing industry . . . Suffice to say they are more so in peril now than they collectively had been before the deal with the Chinese government representatives had been arrived at to extend for two years the purchases of critical elements, battery component materials and battery cells from FEOCs.
Understand that from day one of the new Presidency, China's leadership expects most specific actions and most specific results from the next U.S. political administration; and should either Camala Harris or Donald Trump continue down this road to utter global economic destruction (and that is where we are being taken MaterialsMan; see "the great reset" following the geopolitical and geoeconomic period of permanent fracturing of the worlds), nobody is going to be worrying about hydrogen powered vehicles nor battery electric powered vehicles. Everybody and their cousins would be worrying about securing and sustaining enough good old fosil fuels hydrocarbons derived energy independence, something which would enable their participation in the coming "War of The Worlds", so to speak.
The world trade organization stands to lose China, Russia, India and all the ever growing numbers of the BRICS ++++++ nations, countries who would suddenly decouple from that clearly U.S. and European dominated organization.
The big test since it's beginning for the WTO is China's complaint with respect to the U.S. "Inflation Reduction Act or "IRA". Either China wins said particular claim, as it rightfully should, against the U.S. and it's clearly supporting European Union subservient sycophant puppet nation states; or China and "friends" collectively enact phase two and the world as we knew it would irreversibly fracture, leading to a USD "event" and all it would entail.
You could say it's all coming to a theatre near you; and yet, I would simply just
say it's all coming in due course and as per schedule.