CATL , the world's top battery maker, will consider building a U.S. plant if President-elect Donald Trump opens the door to Chinese investment in the electric-vehicle supply chain, the company's founder and chairman,

Chinese electric-car and battery makers have been shut out of the US market through a variety of protectionist trade measures supported by both Democrats and Republicans including Trump, who launched a broader trade war with China during his first presidential term starting in 2017.

Trump wants to prevent Chinese auto imports but has said he remains open to Chinese automakers building vehicles in US

Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles, upending the economics of the industry that has powered its growth.