Rivian built up a stockpile of batteries for its trucks, SUVs, and commercial vans before and after the election of Donald Trump, a strategy used to soften the blow of the president’s tariffs, according to Bloomberg News.
The company apparently bought an undisclosed number of lithium iron phosphate batteries from Chinese firm Gotion before the election. The batteries were for Rivian’s delivery vans, the bulk of which are made for Amazon. After the election (although it’s not clear exactly when) Rivian worked with Samsung SDI “to move a large amount of battery inventory to the U.S. from South Korea,” Bloomberg reports.
The stockpiles should help reduce the pricing pressure caused by Trump’s auto tariffs, which are applied to components that car companies bring into the U.S. to use in vehicles. Trump altered those tariffs this week, providing some relief compared to his original plan of applying an across-the-board 25% tax on imported parts; Trump’s revised tariff plan will still likely lead to price hikes on new cars.