Yellen says China's rapid buildout of its green energy industry 'distorts global prices'
abcnews.go.comTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling out China’s excess production in green energy, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and hurts companies and workers around the world
WASHINGTON — 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
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