Yellen’s insistence that China address overcapacity is a step in the right direction, according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
Washington, D.C. — China’s glut of solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs), and lithium-ion batteries threatens to strangle the clean energy manufacturing sector in the United States and destabilize supply chains worldwide, according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The organization urged U.S. government action to prevent a deluge of Chinese imports in its recent report on Chinese autos, including EVs.
During a speech at Suniva’s solar cell factory in Norcross, Ga., on Wednesday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asserted that she will push her Chinese counterparts to address their nation’s overcapacity when she travels to China in April.
“China’s overcapacity has already wrecked too many industries in America over the past two decades,” Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said. “Beijing’s policies and past administrations’ hesitancy to appropriately prevent or respond to the threat left us in a weakened state.”
The U.S. solar manufacturing industry collapsed in the 2010s during China’s solar panel dumping barrage, leading to shuttering of Suniva’s Norcross factory in 2017. That same year, Suniva fought back and filed a successful trade case that led to tariffs on solar cells and modules. Those tariffs, coupled with funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, have cleared the way for Suniva to restart its factory this spring.
“It’s critical that the Biden administration and Congress proactively deploy existing trade tools and develop new ones to prevent job losses before it’s too late,” Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said. “We must also ensure that Chinese companies don’t simply use our trade partners as a back door to the American market, or to distort it by locating minor operations here dependent on the Chinese supply chain in a way that displaces our emerging industries.” Trade data shows that China is increasingly exploiting Mexico’s trade relationship with the U.S. to dodge American duties and tariffs. The Alliance for American Manufacturing recently issued a report that uncovers how Chinese autos could seriously compromise U.S. national security and economic stability if allowed to enter the U.S. market.
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