The settlement came hours before a Sunday deadline for Biden to decide whether to take the rare step of reversing a U.S. International Trade Commission decision (ITC) that could have shuttered a new $2.6 billion SK battery plant in Georgia.

"This settlement agreement is a win for American workers and the American auto industry," Biden said in a statement, adding that it would help ensure that the United States had a strong, diversified U.S.-based electric vehicle battery supply chain.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Shepardson; Editing by Gareth Jones)