Washington, D.C. – The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after E&E news reported that Korean solar corporation Hanwha Qcells, in response to the Biden Commerce Department’s investigation of whether Chinese exporters are circumventing U.S. trade law by moving solar components through third party countries, will dramatically ramp up production at its Georgia plant, bring its total output to 3 gigawatts of solar. For a frame of reference, one gigawatt powers 10 million light bulbs.

“Hanwha Qcells’s critical investments and plan to ramp up manufacturing in Georgia are a response to the Biden administration’s initiative to crack down on imports of Chinese solar cells made with Uighur forced labor and coal-fired plants. Smart trade policy, including restrictions on imports, is rebuilding domestic solar capacity after bad trade policy allowed it to be destroyed,” said Lori Wallach, Director of ReThink Trade at the American Economic Liberties Project. “More domestic production of solar equipment is key to US climate, resilience and security goals. Going forward, policymakers must create more incentives to build renewable energy in the United States, especially in the critical area of silicon wafer production, which is currently dominated by producers in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, which is where most Uighur forced laborers live.”

Learn more about Rethink Trade and Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.