LG, SK reach $1.8-billion settlement to end electric-vehicle battery spat

Two South Korean electric-vehicle battery makers reached a last-minute settlement in a bitter US trade dispute, sparing President Joe Biden from choosing between undermining intellectual property rights or dealing a politically toxic blow to his climate agenda.

SK Innovation agreed to pay 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) to LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Chem, according to a statement from the two companies. The payment is divided equally in cash and royalties, they said.

The two companies “will work to help the development of EV battery industry in South Korea and the US through healthy competition and friendly cooperation,” according to the joint statement. “In particular, we will work together to strengthen the battery network and environmentally-friendly policy that the Biden administration is pursuing.”

The settlement will avert a 10-year import ban of SK Innovation’s batteries into the US and ends the two-year dispute between the two companies. The import ban threatened to complicate the rollout of Ford Motor’s new F-150 electric pickup truck and the Volk­swagen AG’s ID.4 SUV.