U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his efforts in opposition to the U.S. clear power sector this week by taking purpose at a large wind farm, a transfer that consultants warn will solely widen the already evident hole between Washington and Beijing within the race for the important thing power industries of the longer term.
Trump’s resolution to abruptly cease development at Revolution Wind—an almost accomplished large wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island—is the newest in an avalanche of strikes meant to intestine the U.S. wind and photo voltaic trade and dismantle renewable power tasks championed by his predecessor. America is the world’s largest oil producer and exporter of pure gasoline, and the Trump administration has wholly embraced these fossil fuels in its bid to realize what it has known as “American power dominance.”
U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his efforts in opposition to the U.S. clear power sector this week by taking purpose at a large wind farm, a transfer that consultants warn will solely widen the already evident hole between Washington and Beijing within the race for the important thing power industries of the longer term.
Trump’s resolution to abruptly cease development at Revolution Wind—an almost accomplished large wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island—is the newest in an avalanche of strikes meant to intestine the U.S. wind and photo voltaic trade and dismantle renewable power tasks championed by his predecessor. America is the world’s largest oil producer and exporter of pure gasoline, and the Trump administration has wholly embraced these fossil fuels in its bid to obtain what it has known as “American power dominance.”
“The Biden administration put local weather on the heart of its power coverage and took a really transition-forward stance,” mentioned Kevin E-book, the managing director of ClearView Vitality Companions, a consultancy. “The Trump administration is essentially operating the playbook in reverse.”
Trump’s power playbook additionally stands in sharp distinction to that of China, which is the world’s largest shopper of coal in addition to its largest carbon emitter. But Beijing has additionally poured immense sources into manufacturing renewable and clear power applied sciences over the course of a long time, permitting it to now command the worldwide marketplace for these cutting-edge techniques.
Whereas Washington turns its again on renewable power, Beijing has solely been racing full-speed forward—driving a widening technological hole that threatens to depart america on the again foot in key power sectors within the years to return, power and industrial coverage consultants mentioned.
“The present administration has determined that they need to surrender on the renewables race that China is main, regardless that many of the applied sciences have been invented right here [in the United States],” mentioned Joshua Busby, a professor on the College of Texas at Austin who labored on the Protection Division underneath the Biden administration.
“On some degree, it’s giving up on the longer term, as a result of these are going to be keystone industries that will likely be foundational for financial wealth of nations world wide,” Busby mentioned.
By the numbers, Beijing’s dominance within the renewable and clear power know-how sectors is gaping. At the moment, China instructions greater than 80 p.c of worldwide photo voltaic panel provide chains and has invested greater than $50 billion in new photovoltaic provide capability—or 10 instances as a lot as Europe, in keeping with the Worldwide Vitality Company. (Photovoltaic cells—also referred to as photo voltaic cells—are manufactured from semiconductor materials and use daylight to generate electrical energy.) In 2023, China accounted for some 65 p.c of worldwide wind capability, in keeping with Wooden Mackenzie.
Beijing additionally dominates the worldwide marketplace for batteries, which underpin electrical automobiles (EVs) and hundreds of army techniques, together with lasers and unmanned submersibles. China produces greater than three-quarters of batteries bought globally, in keeping with the Worldwide Vitality Company, and the nation has additionally produced greater than 70 p.c of all EV batteries ever manufactured.
“At this time limit, the Chinese language facet has established a major and irreversible lead vis-à-vis their U.S. opponents,” for vital low-carbon applied sciences akin to photo voltaic, wind, and batteries, mentioned Li Shuo, the director of the China Local weather Hub on the Asia Society Coverage Institute.
“The hole between the 2 international locations will solely be widened based mostly on Trump’s insurance policies,” Li added.
In recent times, China has scaled up its international exports of batteries, photo voltaic panels, and different clear power applied sciences as overproduction points have resulted in decrease costs and pushed determined Chinese language companies to hunt new consumers overseas.
That’s very true for energy-hungry rising market economies, a lot of that are nonetheless scrambling to satisfy surging energy demand. In 2024, rising markets have been the vacation spot of 43 p.c of China’s clear tech exports, practically double their market share in 2022, in keeping with BloombergNEF.
Take Pakistan, which has been one of many largest new markets for affordable Chinese language photo voltaic panels and is now present process a photo voltaic increase. In 2024, the nation greater than doubled its photo voltaic panel imports from Beijing in only one yr.
In Africa, the place greater than 600 million individuals nonetheless want electrical energy entry, China’s photo voltaic exports have additionally dramatically elevated lately. Between July 2024 and July 2025, African imports of Chinese language photo voltaic panels surged by 60 p.c, in keeping with an evaluation by Ember, an power monitoring group. The largest clients have been South Africa and Nigeria, in keeping with Ember.
Beijing’s international ambitions have additionally seen Chinese language corporations arrange store exterior of the nation’s borders. Chinese language producers are actually constructing, or have already constructed, electrical automobile and battery factories in Brazil, Hungary, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, and Turkey.
“On the finish of the day, it will then be a part of the story of China’s international enlargement—its financial integration with some elements of the world,” Li mentioned.
These markets aren’t at all times keen to just accept China’s clear tech exports. One of many clearest examples is Europe, which has railed in opposition to an inflow of low cost, Chinese language-built electrical automobiles lately and in the end struck again with its personal tariffs and an anti-subsidy investigation to defend home automakers. A flood of low cost Chinese language EVs in Brazil, too, has sparked appreciable native backlash.
“Honest competitors is nice. What we don’t like is when China floods our market with massively sponsored electrical automobiles. And we now have to sort out this, we now have to guard our trade,” European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen declared final yr.
The Trump administration, for its half, seems decided to be sure that different international locations “drill, child, drill” simply as a lot because it plans to, largely by wielding the threat of tariffs and different financial pressures. Trump’s current commerce cope with the European Union, for instance, included the bloc’s dedication to purchase $750 billion in U.S. oil and gasoline in alternate for lowered tariffs.
Trump has aggressively tried to rally different international locations to his trigger, lately declaring in a cupboard assembly that governments are “destroying themselves” with wind power and saying that he “hope[s] they get again to fossil fuels.” In one other occasion, prime Trump officers vowed earlier in August to retaliate in opposition to any international locations that backed a worldwide settlement to curb greenhouse gasoline emissions in worldwide delivery.
However for a lot of international locations, renewable power sources could already be firmly of their power combine.
“From a purely aggressive standpoint … it’s not clear that the U.S. can actually forestall the remainder of the world [from] changing into way more depending on renewables and EVs and batteries,” mentioned Ilaria Mazzocco, an knowledgeable in industrial coverage and Chinese language local weather coverage on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
“The dangers are that the U.S. misses out on a number of the applied sciences of the longer term,” Mazzocco mentioned, later including: “It’s tough to see how the U.S. may get again into the sport in a few of these applied sciences.”
