lg said it plans to invest more than 45 billion in us battery production over the next four years and build at least two plants including possibly in georgiaby david shepardson and ben klayman washingtondetroit when us president joe biden flies to georgia friday he will land in the middle of an increasingly politicized battle between two south korean electric vehicle battery makers and the state and federal politicians who want to prevent their feud from costing american jobs the companies lg chem and rival sk innovation co are trying to take advantage of past and promised us investments and ties to politicians in georgia ohio and tennessee to win the end game in a longrunning legal dispute over intellectual property and access to the growing us electric vehicle market advt the biden administration through the us trade representatives office may ultimately pick a winner by the early april deadline both declined to comment the global auto industry is racing to develop evs batteries made by lg sk and other suppliers are critical to meeting the target of building zeroemission vehicles georgia is the center of action unless the white house intervenes sk says a feb 10 ruling by the international trade commission would force it to halt construction on a 26billion factory in a state whose two newlyelected democratic senators are the linchpin of bidens slim democratic congressional majority democratic georgia sen raphael warnock told reuters he has spoken with the biden administration and hopes a deal can be reached i am working to make sure georgians will benefit from the jobs they were promised lg wrote to warnock arguing sk is holding the people of georgia hostage in a lastditch lobbying effort to avoid settling lg said if sk abandoned the plant lg will do our best to fill in any voids concern in georgia is bipartisan on friday governor brian kemp a republican urged biden to overturn the decision noting sks plant will employ nearly 2600 people in the largest foreign investment in georgia history simply put the livelihoods of thousands of georgians are now in your hands advt battleground states lgs political allies warn that reversing the itc could hurt workers in michigan and ohio also key political battleground states lg is nearing completion of a cell manufacturing plant in ohio with general motors and sources said they are in talks to build a second facility in tennessee lg chems stolen intellectual property should not be used to directly compete against ohio workers at the new factory or the ohio and michiganbased businesses in the factorys supply chain ohio gov mike dewine wrote in a march 8 letter to biden in tennessee home to sk customer volkswagens us assembly plant state economic development chief bob rolfe said politics and jobs take center stage you can weigh certainly the political side of this and then you also need to weigh the impact to the economy said rolfe who declined to support either battery maker lg said it