HOUSTON - Officials from President Joe Biden's administration warned leaders of the U.S. clean energy transition this week to decarbonize quickly and keep the supply chain out of China's control.
"It's just clear, to say it directly, that China has too much of a chokehold on critical minerals, on critical processing and upstream technologies, and solar," White House energy adviser John Podesta told the conference.He and other officials at the conference cited Europe's historic reliance on Russian fuel as an example of risks of relying on global rivals.
As the world moves toward a low-carbon economy, Podesta told attendees,"We need to make sure the supply chains are secure, that we don't have a repeat of what we saw with the Russian chokehold on fossil fuels." Despite U.S. comments encouraging a decoupling in trade with China, the two countries in recent months have made more energy supply deals related to natural gas.Energy executives agreed on the value of a diverse and secure supply chain. But some said the clean energy transition would be smoother if Washington could keep trade flowing and relations friendly with China, where products are often cheaper.
In the mining industry, tensions with China could dampen investment in long-term projects, including in China itself, said Richard Adkerson, CEO of miner Freeport-McMoRan.
Greetings from Germany, it will work out. Sure, otherwise remember 1842 or 1900.