U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, left, shakes hands with Governor of the People’s Bank of China Pan Gongsheng as they meet at the People’s Bank of China in Beijing Monday, April 8, 2024. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, center left, walks with Governor of the People’s Bank of China Pan Gongsheng as they meet at the People’s Bank of China in Beijing Monday, April 8, 2024. U.S.
Yet by some estimates, Chinese companies are producing as many as 10 million more electric vehicles annually than they can sell domestically, according to the AAM. That is driving them to“The concern is that the Chinese are building up a lot of capacity in many industries across the board, including these new technology sectors and if domestic demand does not pick up, they are going to be looking for markets outside the country,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.
“What’s new is that the concerns around overcapacity in some cutting edge sectors have become acute,” said Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Treasury Department official in the Obama adminstration. “China’s clearly built an insane amount of capacity to produce solar cells, and similarly large amounts of battery production. And now it’s starting to export autos.