China Retaliates With Own US Solar Probe 中国启动对美可再生能源补贴调查
The building trade war between the US and China over subsidies to solar panel makers is heating up further still, with China launching its own anti-dumping investigation against US firms in a clear retaliatory move for a similar ongoing US investigation. Amid all this latest wrangling in Beijing and Washington, major industry players are announcing a new wave of specific and potential plans to build new production bases in the West and emerging markets, indicating people are starting to feel a bit uneasy with the dominant slice that China has taken of the market. First let’s look at the latest development in Beijing, which has seen China’s Commerce Ministry launch an investigation into government subsidies for US solar panel makers. (English article) I won’t even begin to comment on the absurdity of such an investigation, as a big portion of US solar panel makers are no longer in business after many were forced into bankruptcy this year as the sector struggles through its worst-ever downturn amid huge overcapacity. For that same reason, any punitive tariffs by China probably wouldn’t have much effect, since there aren’t many US solar panel makers left to punish and China hasn’t built many solar power plants to date anyhow. But the tone in the debate is certainly counterproductive if nothing else, and the two sides should sit down and try to work out a solution that everyone can live with rather than engaging in this kind of angry rhetoric. Meantime, Japan’s Panasonic (Tokyo: 6752) has just announced a plan to spend more than $500 million to build a major new solar panel production base in Malaysia. (company announcement) I’m not sure if the world needs another major new solar panel plant right now; but that move, combined with recent comments by LDK (NYSE: LDK) and other China manufacturers that they may build new plants outside China to avoid US punitive tariffs, show that the industry is clearly concerned about too much concentration of its resources in China and wants to diversify its production to other markets. Those kinds of moves could help to diffuse this crisis, though Beijing and Washington will also need to show a bit more willingness to work together to iron out their differences to avoid a counterproductive trade war that could really hurt the development of the alternate energy sector.
Bottom line: China’s launch of an unfair subsidy investigation against US solar firms is a counterproductive move that won’t do anything to help settle a growing trade war over the matter.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Solar Slips Squarely Into the Red 太阳能行业陷入全线亏损
◙ Beijing, Yingli Send Mixed Solar Signals 英利和中国政府似乎“背道而驰”
◙ New Solar Signals: Slowdown Easing Amid Writedowns 太阳能企业减计库存 行业或将开始摆脱危机
