Yellen warns China on excess production capacity

NORCROSS (Reuters) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday she intends to warn China about the negative effects of Beijing’s subsidies for its clean energy industries, including solar panels and electric vehicles, during a visit to the country.

“I intend to talk to the Chinese when I visit about overcapacity in some of these industries, and make sure that they understand the undesirable impact that this is having — flooding the market with cheap goods — on the United States but also in many of our closest allies,” Yellen told MSNBC in a live interview.

Yellen traveled to the state of Georgia to visit a Suniva solar cell manufacturing plant that closed in 2017 due to competition from cheaper, subsidized solar panels from China.

The plant is now reopening because of anticipated demand fueled by tax credits for U.S.-made clean energy technology in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Earlier on Wednesday, Suniva and Canada’s Heliene announced a threeyear, $400 million deal to join forces to cooperate on the production of fully U.S.-made complete solar panels that can be installed into solar power projects. A steady supply of U.S.-produced panels will enable solar project developers to claim a 10 percent bonus credit on top of the 30 percent tax credit on the cost of renewable energy facilities.

Yellen said in remarks at the factory that she will raise concerns China is now overproducing solar panels, EVs and lithium-ion batteries in the same way that it built too much capacity to make steel and aluminum, distorting global markets and hurting jobs in other industrial and developing economies.

Politico has reported that Yellen will travel to China in April. The Treasury Department has declined to confirm her travel plans.