The Biden administration has grown concerned that a glut of heavily subsidized green technology exports from China is distorting global markets, and will discuss the issue with Chinese officials at the next round of economic talks in Beijing. I am planning to face off against.
While the United States is using funds from the 2022 Inflation Control Act to invest heavily in solar power technology and the production of electric vehicle batteries, China is pouring money into its factory sector to stimulate its sluggish economy. As a result, tensions over industrial policy are increasing. President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have sought to stabilize relations between the world's two largest economies, but relations remain strained by differences over trade policy, investment restrictions and cyber espionage.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen is expected to reveal plans to raise the issue of excess capacity with China in a speech Wednesday afternoon. She spoke at the Suniva Solar Plant in Norcross, Ga., where China's export strategy is developing around industries such as solar power, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, and is a global supply chain, according to a copy of prepared remarks. The company plans to issue a warning that it could destabilize the chain. Reviewed by the New York Times.
Yellen will say, “China's excess capacity is distorting global prices and production patterns, hurting not just American businesses and workers, but businesses and workers around the world.” “Challenges for individual companies could lead to supply chain concentration and negatively impact global economic resilience.”
The Treasury Secretary is scheduled to visit China for the second time in the coming weeks. The South China Morning Post reported that she will visit Guangzhou and Beijing in early April. The Treasury Department declined to comment on her travel plans.
In a speech in Georgia, Yellen compared China's investment in green energy technology production to previous overinvestment in steel and aluminum, saying it had created “global ripple effects.”
“It's important to the president and me that American businesses and workers are able to compete on a level playing field,” Yellen would say. “We have pointed out overcapacity in our previous discussions with China, and we intend to make this issue a major topic of discussion during our next visit to China.”
She added: “I will urge Chinese officials to take the necessary steps to address this issue.”
Yellen's visit to Suniva is a perfect example of how the Biden administration's industrial investments are reviving struggling companies. The solar panel company closed its Norcross plant in 2017, in part because cheap imports flooded the U.S. market. The plant is scheduled to reopen this spring, thanks to the Biden administration's green energy investments.
The Treasury Department estimates that the private sector has announced more than $200 billion in investments in clean electricity since the passage of the Anti-Inflation Act, which includes about $400 billion in tax credits and subsidies for low-emission energy production. There is.
China, which invested more than $130 billion in the solar power sector last year, has expressed its own displeasure with U.S. investments in manufacturing. Buyers of electric vehicles that contain parts made in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran are not eligible for generous U.S. tax credits.
China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on Tuesday, calling the Biden administration's electric vehicle subsidy policy discriminatory.
On Wednesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping struck a rosy tone during a meeting with American business leaders and academics in Beijing. He told his executives that China is “building a first-class, market-oriented business environment.” He added that in traditional areas such as trade and new areas such as climate change and artificial intelligence, “China and the United States should play a role in supporting each other's development, rather than hindering it.” said.
Among Xi's top executives was Blackstone Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman. Craig Allen, Chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council; and Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon.
chris buckley I contributed a report from Taipei, Taiwan.
