The Problem With China’s Green Subsidies Is They Don’t Exist

As the US slams a backdoor entry for Chinese-made solar panels and the European Union examines trade restrictions on electric vehicles and wind turbines, there’s one point on which most people agree: China’s clean-energy products are cheaper because the sector is being grossly subsidized.

One problem with that theory: There’s no evidence that such subsidies exist. The low cost of Chinese-made green tech isn’t due to anything that the World Trade Organization would consider a subsidy. It’s largely a result of the fact that the country’s vast size, along with the environmental targets the WTO’s rules were written to protect, encourage manufacturers to invest on a scale that puts the rest of the world to shame.