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China faces more scrutiny from the West over its aggressive export practices — overcapacity and huge subsidies.

www.dw.com From solar to EVs: How China is overproducing green tech – DW – 04/10/2024

China faces more scrutiny from the West over its aggressive export practices — overcapacity and huge subsidies. The US and EU are working to ensure that their clean-energy sectors aren't wiped out by unfair competition.

From solar to EVs: How China is overproducing green tech – DW – 04/10/2024

Chinese firms can often undercut their Western counterparts for many reasons, including cheaper labor and economies of scale. But they also benefit from very generous state incentives, which help to make foreign rivals uncompetitive.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager described China's playbook for dominating green-energy sectors during a speech at Princeton University this week. Noting how China first attracts foreign investment through joint ventures, she said the country was "not always above board" in the way it acquired green technological know-how. China then closed its own market to foreign firms before exporting excess capacity to the rest of the world at low, subsidized prices, she says.

"We should prepared to play hardball with China," says Rolf Langhammer, former vice president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW-Kiel).. "For electric cars and green technology, the US and EU are the most important foreign markets, and the Chinese need access."

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