China has stopped subsidies for makers of wind energy turbines, Washington said Tuesday — declaring one victory in a series of trade complaints against Beijing at the World Trade Organization.
As the two powers tussle to dominate the green energy sector, the United States cast China's decision as a victory for US workers.
"We challenged these subsidies so that American manufacturers can produce wind turbine components here in the United States and sell them in China," said US Trade Representative Ron Kirk in a statement.
"The United States is pleased that China has shut down this subsidy program," he said.
In December, just weeks before a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Washington, the US lodged a complaint with the WTO, saying China had provided several hundred million dollars in illegal grants since 2008 to wind turbine makers for using Chinese components.
The assistance ran as high as $22.5 million for a single grant, it said.
The complaint arose from a petition by the United Steelworkers union last September, alleging illegal Chinese subsidies for domestic makers of a range of green technology goods, including wind and solar energy products, advanced batteries and energy-efficient vehicles.
At the time of the complaint, the USTR said China's support amounted to "more than twice as much as the US spent in the sector and nearly half of the total 'green' stimulus spent worldwide."
The USTR also said China was generally secretive about subsidies, in violation of WTO rules.
"It is past time for China to be transparent about its subsidy programs, and that includes meeting its notification obligations like other WTO Members. China is the second largest trader at the WTO, and it is simply not acceptable that China continues to evade its transparency commitments," Kirk said.
The wind turbine case came on the heels of other complaints over a range of trade issues, from tires to beef to the level of China's currency, which Washington says is kept undervalued to aid its exports to the United States.
China had a $273 billion surplus in goods trade with the US last year, accounting for 42 percent of the entire US goods trade deficit.
Kirk said it was Washington's third successful WTO challenge against Chinese subsidies. In each case, China agreed to end the subsidies following official consultations with the WTO, rather than a formal WTO ruling, he said.
The trade deficit, and US struggles to sell more products to China, was a central issue when Hu held talks with US President Barack Obama in January.
China denies closing off its market to US products and Hu at the time encouraged Washington to remove restrictions on American-made high-technology goods that China wants to buy but cannot because of US security concerns.
