Why is graphite exempt from US tariffs, and how competitive is China's graphite industry?

Why is graphite exempt from US tariffs, and how competitive is China's graphite industry?
China's graphite competitiveness rests on both resource endowment and downstream processing dominance. China holds 81 million tonnes of crystalline flake graphite reserves and produced 77% of global natural graphite in 2023. More critically, China controls roughly 98.5% of global anode material output, far exceeding its 69% share in rare earths. The supply chain advantage spans from spherical graphite processing in Heilongjiang (90% of global capacity) to needle coke feedstock and graphitization furnaces. Recent breakthroughs include ultra-high purity graphite at 99.99995% purity by Minmetals subsidiary. However, natural graphite alone cannot meet battery demand, so synthetic graphite from needle coke and petroleum coke dominates anode production, with graphitization costs (half from electricity) and feedstock comprising most production expenses.