Yellen Warns China Against Flood of Cheap Green Energy Exports

The Biden administration is growing increasingly concerned that a glut of heavily subsidized green technology exports from China is distorting global markets and plans to confront Chinese officials about the problem during an upcoming round of economic talks in Beijing.

The tension over industrial policy is flaring as the United States invests heavily in production of solar technology and electric vehicle batteries with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, while China pumps money into its factory sector to help stimulate its sluggish economy. President Biden and Xi Jinping, China's leader, have sought to stabilize the relationship between the world's two largest economies, but differences over trade policy, investment restrictions and cyberespionage continue to strain ties.

In a speech on Wednesday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen laid out her plans to raise the issue of overcapacity with her Chinese counterparts. At the Suniva solar cell factory in Norcross, Ga., she warned that China's export strategy threatened to destabilize global supply chains that were developing around industries such as solar, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.

"China's overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world," Ms. Yellen said. "Challenges for individual firms can lead to concentrated supply chains, negatively impacting global economic resilience."

The Treasury secretary is expected to make her second trip to China in the coming weeks. The South China Morning Post reported that she will visit Guangzhou and Beijing in early April. The Treasury Department declined to comment on her travel plans.

In her speech in Georgia, Ms. Yellen compared China's investments in green energy technology production to what she described as its previous overinvestment in steel and aluminum, saying it created "global spillovers."

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