The United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) have recently claimed that China’s production of energy products “in excess of its capacity” is disrupting global balances. Beijing strongly opposes these claims.

US President Joe Biden recently made a major increase in customs duties on clean energy products originating from China and increased the customs duty on electric vehicles from 25 percent to 100 percent.

During her visit to China last month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the global energy products market was “invaded by artificially cheap Chinese products.”

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France in May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also pointed out that “overproduction” creates “difficulties” for China-EU relations.

US and EU leaders; It is concerned about the overproduction of energy products such as those used for electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar power generation. Chinese media classifies them as the “new trio”.

So, is there really overproduction of these products? If so, is this linked to state subsidies and China’s industrial policies, as the US and EU claim? Could this situation lead to a new global trade war?

What are the ‘new trio’ products?

The class of products called the “new trio” was first introduced at a press conference held by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in February 2023.

The ministry official who attended the meeting celebrated the fact that the total import and export value exceeded 5.5 trillion dollars in the previous year, although it was “an extremely difficult year for the country’s foreign trade development”.

These products are China’s new “growth point” of “high-tech, high-value-added products leading the green transformation,” the official said.

Just a few weeks ago, China abandoned its zero-Covid policy, which suspended the country’s economic activities for almost two years.

Xi Jinping also said at the Apec CEO summit in November 2023, attended by international officials and business leaders, that the “new trio” “creates huge opportunities” in the green products market.

According to official data, the exports of these products increased greatly in 2022: Electric vehicle exports increased by 131.8 percent, exports of photovoltaic products increased by 67.8 percent and lithium battery exports increased by 86.7 percent.

Author: Engload