Essay by Eric Worrall
Climate change news seems to be taking the Chinese line on the tariff issue – but who expected anything different?
Days after climate talks, US slaps tariffs on Chinese EVs and solar panels
Published on 15/05/2024, 5:21pm
The measures are designed to increase the cost of Chinese goods needed for the energy transition – and could therefore slow the US shift away from fossil fuels
By Joe Lo
Five days after seemingly cordial US-China climate talks, US President Joe Biden has announced he will increase US tariffs on Chinese solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries to run them.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, China’s new top climate diplomat Liu Zhenmin travelled to Washington DC for two days of talks with his US counterpart John Podesta, also fresh in the job.
They discussed co-operation on climate issues, including plans for both sides to ramp up renewables, and vowed to “intensify technical and policy exchanges”.
But the day after, with Liu still in the country, the US State Department briefed journalists that Podesta had told Liu that China was producing too many solar panels and lithium-ion EV batteries.
Then on Tuesday, the White House increased tariffs on Chinese EVs, lithium-ion batteries and solar panels, accusing the Chinese government of “unfair, non-market practices” and “flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports”.
…
Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/05/15/days-after-climate-talks-us-slaps-tariffs-on-chinese-evs-and-solar-panels/
Regardless of China’s understandable confusion on where they stand with the Bidens and the US renewable industry, I doubt these tariffs will improve the circumstances of US solar manufacturers. There are too many barriers for US solar manufacturers to be globally competitive, such as the USA’s increasingly expensive energy and tough environmental regulations, and the door is still open to imports from other nations with lower manufacturing costs.
President Biden has threatened to extend the tariffs if he becomes convinced Chinese manufacturers are circumventing his tariffs by transshipping solar panels through other nations. I’m sure those other nations being threatened with tariffs will be keen to persuade President Biden that nothing untoward is happening. Perhaps President Biden should send Hunter on a fact finding mission
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Oh goodie! More Solyndras, and they can all implode on Trump’s watch. “See, I told you Trump was incompetent.”
So it goes.
But with TRUMP! having learned so much over the last 7 years, he will have an AG that WILL follow the money from the fed government to the bankrupt company to the Democrat political campaigns and super PACs and charge them ALL with the conspiracy to scam the US taxpayers.
Hundreds of politicians, NGO executives and employees rounded up. ALL their phone and email records from the last 5 years collected, them being held and sequestered like Manafort and the Jan 6 defendants were, taken out of the ability to continue their conspiracies.
Of course the DOJ to charge them in a 90% Republican voter county.
THEN string the trials out to the 2026 election cycle and “leak” the facts to the media and especially to the blogosphere to show just how corrupt the Democrats and their associates are.
4 years of show trials for actual criminals. Quid Pro Quo shown time and again. Republican “moderates” part of the cabal taken down with their Democrat and billionaire oligarch cronies, etc. Could that be why Romney is bowing out of the Senate?
Anyone who thinks tariffs are wrong to use against a country having an unfair labor cost advantage (aka slave labor) to produce low cost goods (aka CHEAP / CHINTZY / CRAPPY) should strongly consider taking their education credentials to China and using said credentials to seek gainful employment…over there.
If they were serious about the slavery issue they would ban all trade with China. I’ve written plenty of articles about slavery in China.
e.g.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/03/03/does-the-alleged-climate-crisis-justify-ignoring-accusations-of-chinese-slave-labor/
These tariffs will achieve nothing except to enrich a few Washington fixers, who will help with re-routing the Chinese products through Mexico or wherever.
Watch it, Eric.
You’re already on their sino-phobe list 🙂
Being led to a room by a Chinese official in red army uniform, glared at for a minute, then waved towards the door is not an experience I’m keen to repeat. But I’m not keen on that evil spreading to the rest of the world either.
At least when I boarded my plane I was free, 1.4 billion Chinese people don’t have that option.
One might call that a happy ending. I’ve been disappointed in fondlings by TSA multiple times and German airport security at least a couple.
I once got called aside for a pat-down by pre-boarding security in San Francisco.
The ‘officer’ asked me if I’d prefer to go to a private booth.
I said – “no thanks, I believe public erotic behavior is normal here, so let’s put ourselves on full public display”.
It was no surprise that I got “the look”.
With the major advent of new levels of robotics and additive manufacturing technology, the US and other “advanced” western countries will be able to replace the millions of Chinese slave labor with machines allowing the removal of China from the “Most Favored” trading list and from the WTO altogether.
Cut off ALL trade with China. Let Apple sell their I phones and I pads somewhere else.
That would do one of 2 things. Put China back 50 years economically, OR cause WWIII just as the US oil embargo by Roosevelt pushed Japan into WWII.
Luckily China and their new friend Russia can be bottled up and any land war will be in Europe and Asia. The US Navy and Air and Space force, with the advent of the SpaceX Starship’s ability to deliver 100 to 200 tons of cargo to space EACH LAUNCH will give the US the ability to use kinetic weapons at low cost requiring China and Russia to expend all their anti aircraft weapons just defending their anti aircraft weapons. Think 40 5 TON solid steel warheads per launch, 2 to 3 launched per day. And if the US wants to be cynical, use depleted uranium to contaminate the sites hit by the warheads. 20 or so Starships so configured were to be parked in orbit before the termination of trade would give Russia and China pause.
The only problem with Kinetic Weaponry (Rods from God) is that the platform carrying them isn’t stationary above the enemy nation. To be so would mean equatorial geostationary satellites and would take over 2 hours to deploy and strike. OK for a first strike option … perhaps … but not timely for a response strike. To get them closer would require hundreds to thousands of satellites and there would be no guarantee that any single satellite would be in targeting range of any specific target at any given moment
Each PASS of EACH delivery module would require the Chinese or Russians to move their air defense batteries and would then create an endless cycle of movement to the exhaustion of their troops and equipment. Bridges, rails, power plants and factories don’t move so will always be able to be struck at will to disrupt their supply infrastructure and economy.
The Rods from God, as aptly named, would be devastating. 2 years of launches and the threat would be so substantial that there is a possibility that we could actually have peace on earth.
With Space X, launching a Starship to LOE (low earth orbit) could be as low as 3 million dollars for the delivery plus the cost of the ship itself if left in space. IF a sub assembly is delivered, then the only additional costs are the sub assembly (weapons system) design and manufacture and the Starship modification for delivery. If this came to pass, SpaceX could return expended modules to earth for reloading and reuse.
Musk will be against using his rockets for weapons delivery to space but he has already taken money from the Pentagon for military launches, engine design assistance and for his special Starlink military grade satellites. I don’t think he will have an option.
In the blogosphere there have been hints (conspiracy theories) of the possibility of the US military taking over SpaceX once Musk has the Starship working properly. I viewed this “theory” first over a year ago. At the current pace the Starship program could be fully reusable AND reliable within ONE year.
The above proposal could be implemented before the end of TRUMPS! next term with possibly 50 or more modules providing coverage of almost the entire surface of the earth within less than 30 minutes.
Russia sees this coming and is placing nuclear “capable” satellites in orbit that will be used to destroy ALL satellites within range in LOE. Scarry times This all reminds me of the Star Trek (“Space Seed” original series) take on the earth when Kahn became a War Lord.
Learn some basic economics before you spout off on the politics of the matter.
Biden, or whomever is actually running the administration, has the choice of offending a major pressure group, excuse me, constituency. Either he offends some of the subsidy miners, or the US manufacturers.
This article says that Obama is giving Biden a wedgie, however that works on diapers.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/16/barack-obama-joe-biden-israel-palestine-gaza-campus-protests-iran/
In any case the market has woken up to the awful depreciation the early EV fanbois have copped just like Hertz experienced and it’s all downhill from here-
The Number of Electric Cars in Europe is Declining: Here’s the Replacement (msn.com)
In Oz I’m patiently waiting around 12 months with a deposit on a Corolla Cross hybrid as a replacement for the missus 3 year old Kia petrol shopping trolley while EVs in the showrooms are being discounted and clearly I’m not alone.
Cool, twice the stuff to go wrong under the hood.
Unfortunately Ammonia and hydrogen are still in the wings, IMO it will be a competition to see which leaves the most gruesome trail of casualties.
The upshot with all these computers on wheels nowadays is I view them all as 10yr/150k appliance throwaways. Ipso facto I don’t want to own them outside of warranty so depreciation at the front end is most important to me and try Redbook for a 5 year old look at depreciation of say a RAV4 hybrid vs a Tesla M3-
Redbook Cars | Australia’s No.1 Car Research Website – redbook.com.au
Dealers don’t even want to trade the used Tesla.
Depreciation of EVs from companies that go bankrupt will accelerate, e.g., Rivian is headed that way.
Well China’s EV carmakers have to settle down to 3 or 4 stable players before they can be a serious option for western carbuyers-
China’s Abandoned Electric Cars Pile Up After EV Boom Fueled by Subsidies (bloomberg.com)
Just the same as the likes of Rivian Fisker Lucid and Polestar have to lose the whiff of bankruptcy and the threat of a owning a stranded asset for consumers.
Since Urine will, over time, turn to ammonia I can for see Oldsmobile replacing the 88 and 98 with the Urin8 … for pissing around town.
Ammonia is nasty stuff and just ask the Hindenburg how hydrogen worked out.
“Agriculture accounts for at least 80 percent of the world’s ammonia use . . .
“Anhydrous ammonia is a liquid that is under pressure. It contains an astounding 82 percent nitrogen content. It’s excellent for fall plow-down and side-dressing corn . . .
“This is a widely used source of nitrogen for caring for crops and plants. The word anhydrous means it has no water in it. Companies find this to be an easy-to-access form of nitrogen-based fertilizer. Plus, farmers can apply anhydrous ammonia easily . . .
“Independent ammonia-making machines – IAMM™ – are transforming the availability of ammonia-based fertilizers while helping reduce carbon emissions from brown ammonia and making ammonia affordable for farmers.
“One unit is the size of a shipping container – approximately 6-7 feet wide by 40 feet long. All you need is electricity and water to produce up to 4.4 metric tons of NH3 per day. And because the units are modular, you can scale your production to meet seasonal needs.”
— https://www.iamm.green/ammonia-fertilizers/
(my bold emphasis added)
Apparently, crop farmers have no problems handling and using this “nasty stuff”.
Apparently, crop farmers have no problems handling and using this “nasty stuff”.
Large scale commercial growers who can support the infrastructure and personnel to do so, but not so much small farmers. Also it is one of hazmat’s biggest fears. Sit in on a class some time.
Care to recommend one? And have you yourself done so?
And have you yourself done so?
I am Hazmat Level 1 certified, and have taken the full course twice over the last 10 years (due for another soon)
Ask your local fire department where you can find a class, or look around your local community colleges to see where they do fire academy training.
Ammonia is a greenhouse gas, so promoting its use is bad bad juju.
Ammonia is only theoretically considered to be a “greehhouse gas”.
“Ammonia has a lifetime in the atmosphere of only one week . . . Ammonia is highly water soluble so quickly comes down in rain, and is also readily absorbed by plants . . . Because ammonia is so short lived in the atmosphere, it has an effective global warming potential of zero, despite absorbing the right frequencies of infra-red radiation to otherwise be a greenhouse gas.”
— https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/18354/why-is-carbon-dioxide-a-greenhouse-gas-whereas-ammonia-is-not
Everything to do with global heating is only theoretical, and since the projections provided by the theory by climate morons ALL FAIL, the theory fails.
Still got Arctic Ice
No “hot spot”
Etc. on ad infinitum.
Why no mention of water vapor as a “greenhouse gas”?
Why no mention that the primary reason that the high surface temperature of Venus (about 867°F, or 464°C) is attributed by most planetary scientists to be the direct result of CO2 acting as a “greenhouse gas” in the planet’s atmosphere?
Why no mention that “greenhouse gases” do, in fact, absorb and re-radiate LWIR from Earth’s surface, although some (most notably CO2) are saturated in their ability to create additional warming at or above their current atmospheric concentration levels, given Earth’s current average percent of cloud coverage.
So many questions for you . . . so few answers.
The Biden EV tariff was looked at over at the Conservativetreehouse====>
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/05/14/joe-biden-announces-tariffs-on-non-existent-products-from-non-existent-origination-country-heres-why/
The China/Blackrock EV manufacturing in Mexico was also discussed there=====>
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/12/18/now-that-blackrock-biden-white-house-have-forced-ev-mandates-china-moves-massive-investment-into-mexico-to-make-evs-for-u-s-market/
“I doubt these tariffs will improve the circumstances of US solar manufacturers.”
We don’t WANT their circumstances to improve- nor any other solar manufacturers.
On the 11th of June 2019 one of the staffers of a prominent US politician typed the following into their Twitter (as it was then, now known as “Twi … I mean X”) account and hit the “Post” button :
The account’s name and handle ?
“Joe Biden” and @JoeBiden.
I recall some statements from Trump that indicated that he was using tarrifs in a different way – purely as a negotiating tactic. Give China incentives to remove their tariffs, resulting in a ‘fair’ trade between the countries (after USA removed them too).
I’m not sure any gov’t has ever done it that way before – usually it’s purely protectionism.
Not saying it would have worked, or wouldn’t have had bad consequences, just pointing out that Trump’s intended use of tariffs seemed very different from their historical use.
It would have been interesting to see its effects through a second term.
Why do we need tariffs when the unemployment rate is at all-time low levels?
Because politicians think voters want manufacturing jobs more than we want low cost imports.
The US only manufactures high value goods because our labor is too productive to waste it on the stuff China wants to export. Trying to force manufacturing of cheap commodities into the US makes no sense.
Well that’s one way of ensuring no Grenfell Towers with stinking incendiary EVs in the basement-
Brisbane Mayor announces plans to scrap carparking requirements for new high rise apartments | Watch (msn.com)
The ultimate Green dream for us all.
Why does that lead-in photo to the above article have all the look of a used car salesman that just made a sale to you?
An old-time definition of a “good” politician:
When he’s been ‘bought’, he stays ‘bought’. The ‘Big Guy’ just failed…..
This will drive up inflation of course.