On September 9, 2010 the United Steelworkers (USW) union filed a trade case against China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, starting a 45-day period in which the Obama Administration must decide whether or not it will investigate the petition and begin WTO consultations with the Chinese government.  The petition covers five categories of unfair, WTO-inconsistent policies that harm U.S. clean energy manufacturing.  According to the USW filing, these practices limit our ability to expand domestic capacity in wind and solar energy products, advanced batteries, energy-efficient vehicles, and other clean energy manufactured goods.  Further, these practices have enabled China to emerge as a dominant supplier of certain green technologies.

Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) issued the following statement:

"The Alliance for American Manufacturing strongly supports the Section 301 case put forth by the United Steelworkers today on China's protectionist and mercantilist clean energy policies.  These policies are limiting opportunities for domestic growth in clean energy manufacturing and denying our exporters of clean energy technology and equipment the opportunity to compete on a level playing field in China's market and in markets where we compete with Chinese goods. 

"Unless the market access issues and predatory practices detailed in the filing are quickly resolved, the United States will be in an unenviable situation as we transition to a more diverse supply of energy.  We may be simply trading dependence on foreign oil for dependence on Chinese-made clean energy.  Such a trade-off will limit our opportunities for innovation and may permanently shrink our manufacturing base as others move ahead. 

"Clean energy technologies have been, and continue to be, innovated and made in America.  Yet, our policymakers seem to have lost interest in where goods are made or if other nations are pursuing mercantilist policies to capture market share.  It does matter.  We should be the global leader in clean energy manufacturing.  But if China does not play by the rules and is not held to account, we will never have that opportunity. 

"We hope the Obama Administration moves forward aggressively with this case."

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