Well, this is a political handball, it feels like. Yes. You know, it is very sensitive. You know, we've got U.S. and China. The U.S. is trying really hard to decouple from China, and Chinese companies are trying really hard to access the U.S. market, and the automakers, the American automakers, are caught in the middle because, you know, GM, Ford, you know, every Stellantis, they've all poured billions of dollars into making batteries and forming joint ventures with the Korean battery makers and, you know, gotten a lot of subsidies from the U.S. government in order to do so. But because these are not selling well, because they've had struggles making batteries, which is normal, you know, making batteries and EVs for the first time in your 100-year history, it's not going to go smoothly right off the bat. It never does. Didn't for Tesla.

It doesn't for anybody. So they're under pressure. And so this potential deal, which is still tentative, you know, it's just talks, nothing is finalized, would be a way for American car companies to get access to cheap, you know, really cutting-edge battery technology from China without tripping up all the political wires that could, you know, potentially chip up when you work with a Chinese company. Right. Well, I think the basics of what we heard from sources is really important. The mechanics are such that the battery technology is licensed from Seattle, a Chinese company, but the operations are run by a conglomerate from Japan called TDK, which many of the people on this show probably haven't heard of, but they're basically a consumer electronics company. And then GM and other automakers, I think, is what we're hearing. Right. Gaby would buy the batteries on fixed-term contracts, so they're kind of

insulated from price swings. Take it from there. What else do we know? Well, I think, you know, I think one of the most interesting things about this is that you've got a Japanese company acting as a middleman. You know, up until now, we've seen Ford and Tesla do these kind of cute kind of licensing deals where they can use Seattle technology without, you know, violating rules or tripping any political wires. Now, this is a new development in how the auto industry is adapting to the political environment and the environment and the fact that they're, you know, not profitable on making movies yet. So we know that. Yes, we know that GM and Seattle and Japan's TDK, which makes battery there's a inspired for the iPhone. They make batteries for consumer electronics. They want to get into the EV battery business and this could be a way into it. So they're looking at states in the southern U.S..

You know, and I think, you know, obviously, this is so sensitive politically that I think the results of the presidential election in November could potentially, you know, affect the outcome of these talks.

GM in Talks to Buy Chinese Batteries Made in US by TDK

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