Michael Giberson
Marc Gunther asks, “Should we worry about Chinese government subsidies to its solar industry? Or send the Chinese a thank-you note?” The issue is a “dumping” complaint filed by several U.S. based manufacturers with the U.S. International Trade Commission alleging China so subsidizes its solar PV production that the PV panels are being sold here at a loss.
As Gunther notes, “it takes chutzpah (that’s a technical term in economics) for US solar manufacturers to complain about subsidies in China since they, too, benefit from … [long list of subsidies provided by U.S. federal and state policies].”
ASIDE: Elements of the wind power industry have taken inspiration, as a few weeks ago four U.S.-based manufacturers of wind turbine towers filed a complaint with the ITC against Chinese and Vietnamese wind turbine tower manufacturers.
[HT to AltEnergyStocks.com, where Gunther’s column was republished.]