The U.S.-China new energy competition is heating up, Yellen is in a hurry?
Recently, it was revealed that Biden will announce high tariffs on China's electric vehicles, batteries, photovoltaics and other key areas, including 100% punitive tariffs on China's electric vehicles. This is another big stick of trade by the US side, and it has carried out unprecedented suppression on China's new energy industry.
However, just when Biden was brewing something bad, US Treasury Secretary Yellen accidentally said some "truth" in a radio interview, which bluntly exposed the selfishness behind Washington.
Words are not chosen, and the truth is exposed
Originally, Yellen's purpose on the radio this time was very simple - to prepare public opinion for the upcoming new round of tariff measures against China. She played her cards according to the routine and hyped up the so-called "China's overcapacity" problem, which was intended to make people feel that the United States was "fighting back in self-defense" by sacrificing the trade stick.
But under the host's questioning, Yellen was incoherent for a while, and bluntly admitted that the United States heavily subsidized electric vehicles, clean energy and other industries in order to prevent domestic companies from going bankrupt.
What is even more ironic is that Yellen actually cried that the US has to take "effective measures" to safeguard national economic security, citing the fact that China's solar industry is developing and causing US companies to go bankrupt.
The remarks exposed Washington's true thinking: the United States does not care about the so-called "overcapacity", but is worried about the rapid rise of China's new energy industry to create challenges for the United States. In the past, it was pretentiously labeled as "unfair", but now it is directly aimed at electric vehicles, new energy and other fields, without any concealment.
Data inventory, the United States is the winner?
Talking about "overcapacity", the US side seems to naturally portray itself as a "victim". But with a few counts, this argument will be self-defeating.
According to statistics, China's EV exports in 2022 will only account for about 12% of total production, far lower than the proportion of EVs exported by the United States and EU countries. At the same time, the global demand for new energy vehicles continues to expand, the supply chain is not yet fully sound, and insufficient production capacity is the real problem.
Could it be that if China does not sell to the United States, it is equivalent to "overcapacity"? This absurd logic exposes Washington's development anxiety.
Let's look at the development of sub-industries. In the field of solar panels, the U.S. exports to China in 2021 will reach 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, almost four times the value of China's exports to the United States, which shows that the development of U.S. companies is booming. In the field of automotive batteries, the United States will export nearly $8 billion to China in 2022, while China will be negative. This once again proves that American companies occupy a huge geographical advantage in China's new energy industry chain.
In the face of these facts, Yellen's argument that "China's solar industry has bankrupted US companies due to its development" is simply nonsense.
In fact, the United States is the winner, and there has never been a shortage of subsidies. The "Chips Act" and "Inflation Reduction Act" invested in the new energy industry have sent hundreds of billions of dollars to American companies. Unfortunately, these huge sums of money have not led to substantial progress for American businesses.
Lie flat winner? It's hard
It is not new for the US to use the new energy industry as a means to suppress its opponents, but this time it is too blatant. After all, China's electric vehicles have entered the world's first echelon within five years, and the concept of eco-friendliness is becoming more and more popular, and new energy is unstoppable.
To put it bluntly, under various policies and bills in the United States, the development of the local new energy industry has not improved, and it is inevitable to be anxious and depressed when China is making great strides to catch up. Under the influence of this mentality, it is easy to brew targeted extreme practices.
In fact, this practice itself is self-isolation from the people. China already has a solid foundation in the new energy industry, and European and American consumers are becoming more and more fond of Chinese brands.
Looking back at history, the United States has imposed tariffs on China three times, all of which ended in failure, which ultimately led to a decline in US corporate profits and a surge in US inflation. This time, the situation is still grim, and the tariff stick is tantamount to cutting yourself off.
So it's one thing for Washington to be delusional, it's quite another to put it into practice. According to the previous practice, the US side may once again manipulate public opinion and take the opportunity to assume the posture of "fully listening to the doubts of the outside world", and finally revise the wording to make the tariff policy a little more moderate.
In any case, China's new energy development has become a general trend, and no obstruction can change this trend. The United States urgently needs to recognize the situation, stop unnecessary containment, and avoid falling into a new round of trade war.