Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called out China’s excess production in green energy, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and hurts companies and workers around the world.

Yellen, who is planning her second trip to China as Treasury secretary, said Wednesday in Georgia that she will convey her belief to her Chinese counterparts that Beijing’s increased production of green energy also poses risks “to productivity and growth in the Chinese economy.”

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in response to the complaint that the U.S. subsidies are a “contribution to a clean energy future” while China “continues to use unfair, non-market policies and practices to undermine fair competition.”

This almost reads like an article from The Onion

  • umbrella
    541·
    9 months ago

    wont somebody think of the prices!

  • Melkath@kbin.social
    451·
    9 months ago

    A member of the Biden administration taking an extremely right wing stance?! What?! I am so shocked.

      • Melkath@kbin.social
        7·
        9 months ago

        Ya, all those left constituents can sit and spin!

        Consistently voting for the “lesser evil” is really working out!

    • admiralteal@kbin.social
      20·
      9 months ago

      Outside of the US, you can get a 10k or less electric mini-van, mini-truck, or mini-car which would serve 90% of most peoples’ needs. Most US trips are under 3 miles after all and giant fast luxurious vehicles for those bike-range trips is just totally silly.

      Meanwhile the cheapest new car in the US is what, a Mitsubishi hatchback for $18k? It’s ridiculous. The US Automakers are in a tacit conspiracy to squeeze us as hard as they can by refusing to sell anything affordable – by inflating sizes and bloating features to justify way higher MSRPs. Meanwhile the French have access to cheap ICEs like the Skoda Citygo and even ultralight city EVs like the Citroen Ami for half that price while still being easily 90% as capable for most people.

      Or for roughly the same price as that bottom-of-the-market US ICE car you can get a totally workable EV like the Dacia Spring.

      The US subsidizes huge vehicles in a million pointless ways. I absolutely refuse to believe that vehicle inflation is just caused by some cultural woo. It’s mostly just that we create giant roads, giant parking spots, giant highways, and have automakers that intentionally go as big as the market can bear because bigger means more money. And sprinkle on some bullshit tax loopholes and state agencies/NHSTA being ultra-conservative and you have a disaster. Smaller cars thrive in the old world because the old world doesn’t make it as convenient as possible to have a goddamn road yacht. They’d go big too, but it would just be a nightmare dealing with those huge cars because their governments don’t prioritize making way for them in every way possible.

      And that’s not even getting into the frankly fine $2-3k EVs you can get in China. This is all just Europe.

  • naturalgasbad@lemmy.ca
    381·
    9 months ago

    The unimaginable horror of cheap energy could collapse the global oil trade. Which country produces the most oil, again?

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      11·
      9 months ago

      What’s fucked up is that might still be true and that just speaks volumes about how absurd we are. :(

  • taanegl@lemmy.world
    374·
    9 months ago

    “Oh no, real competiton, in green energy no less!”

    removed, are you for real?

  • Omega_HaxorsEnglish
    291·
    9 months ago

    Oil companies: AHA! I was greenwashing the entire time! DRILL BABY DRILL

    China: Don’t care, we’re rolling out renewables that will compete you out of the market

    Oil companies: [frustrated crying face] noo you cant do that what about our profits?

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind
      151·
      9 months ago

      This would be really hilarious if China developed the renewables to the point they would really be outright cheaper than fossils.

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind
          152·
          9 months ago

          Another proof for how pervasive monopoly capitalism is, and how Lenin was absolutely correct about imperialism.

      • Omega_HaxorsEnglish
        13·
        9 months ago

        Even more funny that the oil companies could have transitioned into renewable and become the kings of that field, but they care more about maintaining fossil fascism than do the money so they just did greenwashing instead. Now they’re going to get left completely in the dust.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    271·
    9 months ago

    Wowwwww…

    Us to underdeveloped countries: sorry bro can’t use coal anymore, the planet and all ya know. Sucks to suck friendo.

    Us to developing countries starting off on a better foot than us: nooooooo not like that! What about the shareholders!?!?

    • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
      11·
      9 months ago

      Yes and the U.S. was also literally like “why should we stop burning coal, the underdeveloped countries (esp China) will still be burning coal decades after we stop, it’s not going to make a difference if we stop”.

      Turns out the real driving force was actually bribery (“lobbying”) all along.