The US has begun accusing China of illegally subsidizing the production of wind power technology in violation of trade agreements. They’ve asked that China enter into talks with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The accusation is that China has broken the rules and spent several hundred million dollars funding the advancement of wind technology which they have claimed distorts trade.

It is a fact that the Chinese government set up a special fund for wind power manufacturing.

US wind turbine manufacturers like General Electric and United Technologies are excited to sell their hardware in China because it is the world’s largest potential market. However with the public funding of Chinese technologies it may become very difficult for those US firms to compete.

US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk said:

“Import substitution subsidies are particularly harmful and inherently trade distorting, which is why they are expressly prohibited under WTO rules.”

Whether or not these subsidies violate the WTO agreement, or if they even exist at all, it hardly matters considering recent actions of the US which have violated agreements.

I don’t think I need to mention the “quantitative easing” policy.

I believe the US complaints about the funding of wind technology is probably the will of the oil companies. It is a known fact that China is the world’s largest consumer of petroleum fuel. The advancement of wind technology in the world’s largest energy market will reduce its dependency on foreign oil, most of which is owned by US corporations.

This reduced purchasing of oil will certainly cut into the profits of oil corporations. What is most alarming is what US oil companies have done in the past to protect their profit margins. For example, placing trade restrictions on Iranian a few days before the new Iraqi came on the market.

This whole complaint by the US seems a little fishy to me. Particularly since it comes from the government who does the most prevention of green technologies combined with a denial of global warming.