If ASEAN nations had to pick a side
➡️🇺🇸v🇨🇳:
🔗 on.ft.com/3Uaen7h

CC: Friends of #MixedAgreements

V impressive update on China’s state economy by EU Trade 🇪🇺 Probably 12+ months of rigorous literature & policy review, hard work going into this 700+ page document. Practitioners always put academics to shame.

ec.europa.eu/transparency/d…

USTR is seeking comments on supply chains and trade policy. In its notice, it describes the past several decades of U.S. trade policy as a 'race to the bottom… It has also contributed to the hollowing out of the American industrial base and vital U.S. jobs.' Really? 🧵

🔴EU ETS verified emissions dropped a larger-than-expected 16% in 2023, data shows

* Annual drop in emissions is largest ever since ETS launch in 2005
* 24% fall in CO2 in power sector
* Industry down 7%

By Mike Szabo / @szabotage.bsky.social, Roy Manuell and CarbonReporter carbon-pulse.com/273945/

U.S. agrees to WTO consultations with China on IRA measures dlvr.it/T5HRRY

Story: EU launches new probe into China’s wind sector

scmp.com/news/china/dip…

EU approves €267 million in state aid for a Slovakian EV factory for Chinese owned Volvo

ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

China: leader of the green world

Any way you slice it: for all the talk about 🇨🇳's clean tech exports, 'overcapacity', her underlying geopolitical ambitions, and effects on third country markets, one thing is abundantly clear: 🇨🇳's producers & consumers are leading this global transition to net-zero emissions.

From Bloomberg:

The EU Innovation Fund first €6bn allocation

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

For the solar supply chain, this account just doesn't match International Energy Agency projections. Supply will further diversify til 2027 as 🇨🇳 producers withdraw and 🇹🇭🇱🇦🇲🇾🇻🇳🇮🇳 & ROW are ramping up, including re wafers. The narrative is not supported by the numbers.

Kudos to POLITICOEurope for featuring my 2 cents on Breton's protectionist solar sentiment. In essence: EU solar panel production is not 'strategic', imports don't threaten our econ. security & an intern. division of labor furthers an equitable global transition to net-zero. 👇

Ha ha! The quote was actually inspired by Ed Leamer's comment on the role of economic geography in modifying competition: '…geography, flat or otherwise, limits competition and creates long-term relationships between buyer and seller.” aeaweb.org/articles?id=10… /2

LPF, in an acronym. The level playing field is a powerful tug at the political heartstrings. Trouble is, the playing field is never truly level. LPF can be seen as necessary price of support for trade. But it can paper over the need for change. It should prompt hard questions.

'What, precisely, is not to like about the flood of cheap clean energy exports? Would it be better to reduce it to a trickle, so we have less of the kit it takes to decarbonise? Or to have a flood of expensive rather than cheap green tech supplies?'

ft.com/content/8dc64a…