News of new unfair trade actions against China and Chinese PV manufacturers announced in the EU, US, and India add to the embattled industry’s woes, as well as international trade tensions and protectionism. Illegal subsidies petitions were filed in the EU; India’s PV manufacturers are lobbying to bring a WTO case; and two protectionist bills were introduced in the US Senate. […]
Four founding members of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) purchased more than $400 million in goods and services from other manufacturers and employers in 46 states in 2011, according to a CASM survey. The survey results highlight the ripple effects and positive impact a healthy US solar PV manufacturing sector can have on job creation, income growth and economic development, particularly in areas hard-hit by the exodus of manufacturers from US shores.
If it wasn’t already apparent, China’s latest Five-Year Plan highlights the vast differences between the Chinese and US economic systems and political economy. When it comes to solar PV, solar energy and trade, China plays by its own rules, and that spells more trouble for foreign competitors and trade partners.
Encompassing job creation, manufacturing, and clean energy, support is there for the President’s “Blueprint for an America Built to Last.” Leaders of American business, labor, and entrepreneurship have argued in support of much stronger government leadership focused on US manufacturing, job creation, clean energy, and energy conservation.
International trade tensions are rising and taking on increasing significance and urgency all the way up to national and international policy levels, as illustrated by Pres. Obama announcing the creation of an international trade investigations task force in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Clean Technica interviewed a senior solar energy industry executive and board member of the Coalition of Affordable Solar (CASE) to better understand its opposition to international trade petitions filed against China’s subsidizing and export of silicon solar PV cells and modules currently under investigation by the Commerce Dept. and International Trade Commission.
The focus of Part II of this series was to begin to establish what, exactly, is legal and what’s illegal when it comes to subsidies and manufacturing in the context of international trade law and CASM’s international trade petitions against China. That continues here in Part III, in which some of … [continued]
Trade tensions with China continue to escalate, and the renewable energy sector is a focal point. On Jan. 20, the Commerce Dept. announced that it’s opening an investigation into claims made by the US-based Wind Tower Trade Coalition, a group of four manufacturers, that Chinese utility-scale wind tower manufacturers operating … [continued]
