Will China flood globe with EVs, green tech? What's behind latest US-China trade fight - The Mainichi
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- China's burgeoning production of electric cars and other green technologies has become a flashpoint in a new U.S.-China trade fight

China has sharply ramped up its production of cheap electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries just as the Biden administration has pushed through legislation supporting many of those same industries in the United States. ⠀

Chinese automaker BYD had recently introduced an electric SUV at the “astonishingly low” price of $14,000. China’s auto industry poses an “existential threat” to U.S. carmakers, the report argued. ⠀

After more than a decade of subsidizing its automakers, China has built a substantial car industry that accounts for 60% of global electric vehicle sales, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. ⠀

Yellen highlighted the Biden administration’s concerns by recalling a visit a week earlier to Suniva, a solar cell manufacturer in Norcross, Georgia.

The company “was once forced to close down, like other companies across a number of industries, because it could not compete against large quantities of goods that China was exporting at artificially depressed prices,” Yellen said. ⠀

China hasn’t committed to any steps to address American concerns, arguing that its cheap solar panels and other green products are helping the world wage the costly battle against climate change.

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  • RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world
    241·
    7 months ago

    I am not sure i fully understand the issue. Are the cars and solar panels not good? Or is the issue that american car companies can’t compete? Because the latter is not really an issue.

    • Alsephina@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      282·
      7 months ago

      Arnaud Bertrand wrote a great article on this.

      TL;DR: The 3 main signs of overcapacity (capacity utilization rates, inventory levels, and profit margins) for China are all at similar rates as the US, indicating they are not in overcapacity. And they aren’t even selling them at a lower price abroad than at home to beat competition; it’s the opposite. He concludes that China is simply getting too efficient at manufacturing these days and the US is starting to struggle to compete with that, and this is just them trying to convince China to slow down.

      So yeah, the actual “issue” here does seem to just be that the US isn’t able to compete with China in these fields anymore.