When the US government picked the clean energy industry as the latest battleground in its cold war with China over currencies and trade, it did not find the domestic industry rushing to offer support.
The administration announced last Friday that it would proceed with an investigation into China’s support for its renewable energy industry, which could lead to litigation at the World Trade Organisation. The move followed a complaint of unfair practices by the United Steelworkers Union.
With the midterm elections only two weeks away, the administration was under political pressure that proved impossible to resist. The allegations that stimulus funding for energy projects had created jobs in China have been a theme of Republican campaigning.