US unhappy because China is going green (too quickly) ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/business/global/09trade.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-09-09/china-clean-energy-aid-to-draw-complaint-by-u-s-steelworkers.html
(A quick note: Calls for protection from (foreign) competition is nothing new. Here is a brilliant (tongue in cheek) petition from Frederic Bastiat from the 1800s: http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html)
European Experience with Energy Subsidies:
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/08/18/18greenwire-spains-solar-market-crash-offers-a-cautionary-88308.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/spain_sustainability_scam/
http://www.juandemariana.org/pdf/090327-employment-public-aid-renewable.pdf
Europe's not so green subsidies:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/europes-enduring-coal-subsidies
A few simple questions for US policymakers:
In 2009 (according to US Census Bureau Statistics on Foreign Trade) US imports of petroleum and related products was around $253.7 billion. Would you rather be importing wind turbines and solar panels or crude oil?
Are US customers (businesses and households) negatively affected by receiving low cost solar panels and wind turbines?
Is it a bad thing for say Google, a major energy consumer (think massive data centers), to get cheaper and cleaner energy (which would allow the company to devote more funds to investing in core areas)?
Also, given the sudden fervor for following international trade laws, one wonders if GM/Chrysler bailout, Wall Street bailout, infrastructure subsidies, US farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies, etc., are pro-free trade moves?