Congressman Sandy Levin has taken a lead role in a congressional bid to expose Chinese cheating in exporting solar energy products and force a Commerce Department investigation of unfair trading practices by China.
The House Ways and Means Committee ranking Democrat, Levin helped spearhead a letter to President Obama – signed by 59 members of Congress – that was sent today urging an inquiry into Chinese manipulation of the market for clean energy products.
The letter comes after a coalition of U.S. solar manufacturers last month filed petitions with the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission seeking relief from illegal Chinese trade practices.
The letter to Obama outlines a lot of dirty little secrets about the Chinese version of capitalism and free markets.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The (solar power industry) petitioners allege that Chinese imports of crystalline silicon solar cells are being dumped into the U.S. market far below their fair value, and that Chinese solar cell and panel producers receive massive subsidies from the Chinese government. Imports of Chinese solar products have surged more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010. Imports through August this year exceeded those for all of 2010. As a result, whereas Chinese solar panel manufacturers had almost no share of the U.S. solar market five years ago, today they control more than half the market. The U.S. industry has lost thousands of jobs, and at least seven U.S. companies have been forced to close or downsize in the past 18 months.
It is critical for American businesses and workers to be able to fairly compete in this rapidly growing sector. The global solar market has expanded more than 1,000 percent in the last 5 years, with total megawatts shipped rising from 1,400 megawatts in 2005, to more than 17,000 megawatts in 2010. Already an $80 billion annual market, demand for solar panels is anticipated to continue growing as intense competition and technological breakthroughs further drive down prices.
“… As detailed in the solar industry’s petition and in recent press reports, the many advantages that the government of China has provided to its solar industry include: massive loans at below-market interest rates; cheap or free land from local and provincial governments; extensive tax breaks and other state assistance; a currency that is substantially undervalued (by itself giving Chinese manufacturers roughly a 28 percent price advantage over their U.S. competitors); and access to the largest export credit agency in the world (three times the size of the U.S. Export-Import Bank). Given that China exports 95 percent of the solar panels it produces, these government policies clearly distort international trade.”
