The politics of renewable energy trade: The US-China solar dispute
Date
2017-06
Authors
Hughes, Llewelyn
Meckling, Jonas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The Chinese and US governments played significant roles in the development of renewable energy industries,
seeing them as key growth sectors and crucial to addressing climate change. While the US and China cooperated
in renewable energy development, since 2011 the countries have engaged in a protracted and major trade
dispute in the solar photovoltaics industry. We propose that the US government's decision to impose, and then
expand, tariffs on a number of Chinese solar producers can be explained though a model of coalitional politics,
drawing on Actor-Centered Institutionalism and the Advocacy Coalition Framework. We show that a coalition of
domestic manufacturers and congressional interests formed a protectionist coalition that utilized US trade law
to their advantage. In doing so they sidelined a free trade coalition representing the majority of US solar
photovoltaic firms. The institutional design of US trade law also facilitated the successful application of trade
remedies. Our analysis suggests that the domestic politics of renewable energy trade make trade conflicts a likely
outcome, leaving limited scope for policy to carefully manage the trade-off between protecting parts of
manufacturing through tariffs and lowering the cost of renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate
change.
Description
Keywords
Renewable energy, Solar photovoltaics, Trade, United States, China, Advocacy coalition
Citation
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Source
Energy Policy
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
Restricted until
2037-12-31
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