President Biden this week announced plans to significantly increase taxes on electric vehicles, solar cells, advanced batteries and other climate change technologies that the United States imports from China. Naturally, labor groups supported him. These tariffs could make Chinese green technology more expensive for Americans and protect American jobs in clean energy.
Politically speaking, support from labor groups like the United Auto Workers union is a win for the president, but he will need strong union support in his rematch against Donald Trump this fall.
But some climate activists and economists argue that tariffs could slow the fight against global warming at a time when global temperatures continue to break records. They want Americans to buy EVs, solar panels, and anything else that will accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels without worrying too much about where those products come from. Biden’s tariffs, including a 100% tariff on EVs, will make it nearly impossible for some Chinese products to compete on price in the United States.
“Sales of tens of millions of low-cost electric vehicles around the world over the next few years will go a long way toward advancing efforts to curb emissions,” said Dean Baker, an economist at the liberal-leaning Center for Economic Policy Research. Probably.” This week’s blog post. “If China wants to subsidize this process, we should be grateful to them.”
“Supply chain risk is climate risk”
A simple reading of the situation is that Biden’s efforts to win re-election are taking priority over his efforts to fight climate change. They need union voters to win in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and if the price of those votes is more expensive electric trucks and slower emissions cuts, so be it. right?
Well, that’s not how Biden and his team see it.
The administration’s position on climate, China, and tariffs focuses on the question: “Would we choose a rapid but fragile energy transition?” Or maybe a slower one that is more likely to stick?
In a series of conversations with current and former administration officials in recent weeks, it became clear why they are so concerned about the new wave of low-cost Chinese imports flooding into the U.S. clean energy market. It’s coming up. Some of those concerns are environmental. Because Chinese factories emit more greenhouse gases than American factories, authorities consider Chinese products to be “less environmentally friendly” than American-made products.
Some of the concerns concern national security. For example, the Chinese government is investigating threats posed by software and hardware in Chinese cars. Biden aides don’t like the idea of Chinese-made electric SUVs transmitting data to Beijing about where American drivers are driving.
They are also concerned about the economic risks of allowing China to control critical supply chains, especially in clean energy. They believe that Chinese authorities have effectively acquired monopoly rights to vital products around the world, giving them the power to drastically increase prices in the future or cut off import flows on a whim. I’m warning you that there is.
“Supply chain risk is climate risk,” Ali Zaidi, Biden’s national climate adviser, said in an interview. Once a country gains huge market power in the clean energy sector, “you set the terms.” can lead to unfair economic outcomes.”
“There may be push and pull.”
But, of course, politics is an important factor here. Biden has argued that any subsidies for Americans to buy electric cars and other green technologies are essentially handouts to China because China controls these industries. fighting against the Republicans. The bill has become a go-to Republican critique of the climate-related subsidies in the Inflation Control Act that Biden signed into law in 2022, as well as his efforts to tighten auto emissions regulations. Republicans are now extending their complaints to Biden’s tariffs, even if they make it harder for Americans to buy imports from China.
President Trump responded to Biden’s tariffs this week by saying, “The whole Green New scam is Biden’s tribute to Crooked Joe’s China masters.” Although the former president has called for tougher new tariffs on China, Biden’s new tariffs do not primarily target green technology.
Mr. Biden has partially borrowed from Mr. Trump’s hard line on China, including maintaining tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump since 2018. But it also seeks to convince voters that Trump and his party are wrong about climate policies that support China by highlighting China’s job-creating potential. US.
His hope is that the link between jobs and emissions will protect his climate change policies from attack, stave off voter backlash and ensure a more durable transition.
Jason Bordoff, founding director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said the administration appears to be seeking strategies to generate domestic support for overall climate change goals.
“One way this week’s announcements highlight the trade-off between accelerating the transition to clean energy as quickly as possible and protecting union jobs,” he said. “Another way to think about it is that the best climate change strategy is one that maintains domestic political support.”
Compounding this challenge is the fact that many blue-collar workers in regions like Appalachia have lost their jobs to countries like China in recent decades and remain skeptical about clean energy.
Appalachia’s industrial workers have experienced boom-and-bust cycles, and now solar and wind projects are flooding in. But as new jobs come in, workforce advocates are eager to make sure those new positions are given adequate pay and benefits.
“There’s a push and a pull when it comes to these dynamics,” said Dana Kuhnlein, program director at Reimagine Appalachia, a nonprofit that promotes workforce development and sustainability. “I’m excited to see progress and development, but I don’t want to see these communities hurt.”
Some large environmental organizations are well aware of these dynamics and are changing their strategies accordingly. Instead of clashing with workers, they have worked with unions to push for clean energy industrial policies that include subsidies and corresponding fees.
That may be the most politically significant part of Biden’s new tax on Chinese goods. It’s a policy many of the leading figures in his electoral coalition agree with.
Consider this news release celebrating Biden tariffs that also arrived this week. “We cannot trade dependence on foreign oil for a clean energy future dependent on China,” the paper said. “We must continue to invest and build a clean energy future in America.”
It sounds like the leader of the Labor Party is saying it, but it wasn’t. It was Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club.
5 more things you should know
1. Canada’s wildfire season begins, with large British Columbia fires already producing record amounts of wildfire carbon emissions The average temperature in May for the state, according to the European Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service. Experts fear this year’s wildfires could be even more devastating than last year, a record season in which some 45 million acres of forest burned, nearly eight times the annual average. There is. Ian Austin reports that 6,600 people have been forced to evacuate as wildfires break out in Alberta, near the country’s largest oil producing region.
2. Florida government no longer needs to consider climate change when making energy policy decisions Under the bill signed yesterday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Coral Davenport reports. The new law also prohibits the construction of offshore wind turbines in state waters. Multiple scientific studies have shown that increases in greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are contributing to rising sea levels and increased flooding in the state’s coastal cities.
3. White House may ease sanctions on mining billionaires Charges for corrupt business practices aimed at accessing metals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eric Lipton reports that the Biden administration is offering the administration a deal that officials hope will boost supplies of cobalt, which is essential for electric vehicles. Human rights activists and some government officials are furious.
4. Microsoft’s carbon emissions have increased by 30% since 2020. Efforts to become world leader in artificial intelligence threaten company’s ambitious climate change goals, Bloomberg reported. Data centers in the United States may have used as much energy last year as utility-scale solar power plants produced in the country, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.
5. More than half of Zimbabwe’s population will need food aid this year after drought has caused massive crop failures.Reuters reported. A recent study found no evidence that climate change caused the drought. Instead, El Niño weather patterns were shown to be the main culprit.
