Current:Home > StocksYellen says China’s rapid buildout of its green energy industry ‘distorts global prices’-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Yellen says China’s rapid buildout of its green energy industry ‘distorts global prices’
View Date:2024-12-23 18:42:46
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling out China’s ramped-up production in solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world.”
Yellen, who is planning her second trip to China as Treasury secretary, says in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday in Georgia that she will convey her belief that Beijing’s increased production of green energy also poses risks “to productivity and growth in the Chinese economy.”
“I will press my Chinese counterparts to take necessary steps to address this issue.”
China is the dominant player in batteries for electric vehicles and has a rapidly expanding auto industry that could challenge the world’s established carmakers as it goes global. The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental group, notes that in 2023 China accounted for around 60% of global electric car sales.
Yellen’s remarks are to be delivered Wednesday afternoon at Suniva — a solar cell manufacturing facility in Norcross, Ga. The plant closed in 2017 in large part due to cheap imports flooding the market, according to Treasury. It is reopening, in part, because of incentives provided by the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax incentives for green energy manufacturing.
The firm’s history is something of a warning on the impact of oversaturation of markets by Chinese products — and a marker of the state of U.S.-China economic relations, which are strained due to investment prohibitions and espionage concerns, among other issues.
China on Tuesday filed a World Trade Organization complaint against the U.S. over what it says are discriminatory requirements for electric vehicle subsidies. The Chinese Commerce Ministry didn’t say what prompted the move.
The European Union, also concerned about the potential threat to its auto industry, launched its own investigation into Chinese subsides for electric vehicles last year.
“In the past, in industries like steel and aluminum, Chinese government support led to substantial overinvestment and excess capacity that Chinese firms looked to export abroad at depressed prices,” Yellen said. “This maintained production and employment in China but forced industry in the rest of the world to contract.”
“These are concerns that I increasingly hear from government counterparts in industrialized countries and emerging markets, as well as from the business community globally,” she said.
The tone of Yellen’s speech stands in contrast to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who met with American business leaders in Beijing Wednesday and called for closer trade ties with the U.S. amid a steady improvement in relations that had sunk to the lowest level in years.
Xi emphasized Wednesday the mutually beneficial economic ties between the world’s two largest economies, despite heavy U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports and Washington’s accusations of undue Communist Party influence, unfair trade barriers and theft of intellectual property.
veryGood! (3168)
Related
- 25 monkeys caught but more still missing after escape from research facility in SC
- Chrissy Teigen Shows Off Her Boob Lift Scars in Sexy See-Through Dress
- Dozens of performers pull out of SXSW in protest of military affiliations, war in Gaza
- After a pregnant New York teacher collapses in classroom and dies, community mourns
- Too Hot to Handle’s Francesca Farago Gives Birth, Welcomes Twins With Jesse Sullivan
- 1 dead and 1 missing after kayak overturns on Connecticut lake
- Oklahoma teen Nex Benedict’s cause of death revealed in autopsy report
- Stock market today: Asian shares trade mixed as investors look to central banks
- Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
- Massachusetts governor to pardon hundreds of thousands with marijuana convictions
Ranking
- Judge extends the time to indict the driver accused of killing Johnny Gaudreau and his brother
- Royal insider says Princess Kate photo scandal shows wheels are coming off Kensington Palace PR
- Police say suspect in a Hawaii acid attack on a woman plotted with an inmate to carry out 2nd attack
- The Masked Singer Unveils Chrisley Family Member During Week 2 Elimination
- Darren Criss on why playing a robot in 'Maybe Happy Ending' makes him want to cry
- Judge to hear arguments on whether to dismiss Trump’s classified documents prosecution
- Christina Applegate Says She Was Living With Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms for 7 Years Before Diagnosis
- The Masked Singer Unveils Chrisley Family Member During Week 2 Elimination
Recommendation
-
Daniele Rustioni to become Metropolitan Opera’s principal guest conductor
-
Nearly 1,000 Family Dollar stores are closing, owner Dollar Tree announces
-
A CDC team joins the response to 7 measles cases in a Chicago shelter for migrants
-
Psst! Your Fave Brands Now Have Wedding Dresses & Bridal Gowns—Shop From Abercrombie, Reformation & More
-
Brianna LaPaglia Addresses Zach Bryan's Deafening Silence After Emotional Abuse Allegations
-
Checking In With Justin Chambers, Patrick Dempsey and More Departed Grey's Anatomy Doctors
-
Georgia House speaker aims to persuade resistant Republicans in voucher push
-
'1 in 400 million': Rare cow with two heads, four eyes born at a farm in Louisiana