Tag Archives: tariff

Let China Pay the Cost of Solar Energy and Electric Vehicles

Share Button

June 28, 2024 — Lethal heat waves this month hit the US and other regions throughout the Northern hemisphere, including India and the eastern Mediterranean.  June will probably mark the 13th consecutive month of average global temperatures that exceed all observations in records going back to 1850.  The primary explanation is, of course, that emissions and concentrations of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) have in recent years increased even more rapidly than had been feared.

  1. A pleasant surprise

In one area, however, progress in the fight against global climate change has been greater than had been expected.  Use of solar power and other sources of renewable energy in the US and the European Union has risen rapidly.  The beginnings of an historic shift from internal combustion engines to electric–powered vehicles (EVs) have multiplied the importance of the switch to solar and wind sources of electric power. read more

Share Button

Protectionist Clouds Darken Sunny Forecast for Solar Power

Share Button

 
On July 27 negotiators reached a compromise settlement in the world’s largest anti-dumping dispute, regarding Chinese exports of solar panels to the European Union.   China agreed to constrain its exports to a minimum price and a maximum quantity.   The solution is restrictive relative to the six-year trend of rapidly rising Chinese market share (which had reached 80% in Europe), and plummeting prices.  But it is less severe than what had been the imminent alternative:  EU tariffs on Chinese solar panels had been set to rise sharply on August 6, to 47.6%, as the result of a “finding” by the EU Trade Commissioner that China had been “dumping.”   The threat of likely retaliation by China helped persuade the Europeans to back off from their determination to impose such high protective walls around their own solar panel industry.  read more

Share Button