WASHINGTON—Today, The Heritage Foundation released the third pillar of its year-long “Chinese Handcuffs: China’s Immobilizing Trap on U.S. Energy, Security, and Prosperity” project. The four-part series explores the Chinese Communist Party’s calculated strategy to control “green energy” production and critical mineral inputs as well as radical environmentalists’ effective enabling of the CCP in its crusade against climate change. This Biden-Harris policy effectively strengthens the CCP and undermines the energy dominance that America has established over the last decade due to the surging production of oil and natural gas. 

The project’s Pillar Three report, released today, is entitled “How the Forced Energy Transition and Reliance on China Will Harm America.” It concludes that four more years of “green” energy policies will indebt the nation at least $1 trillion through IRA subsidies and high energy costs while only reducing global temperatures by two-tenths of one degree Celsius by 2100. 

Heritage Vice President for National Security and Foreign Policy Victoria Coates stated:  

“The Biden-Harris administration has been on a three-and-a-half-year campaign to surrender U.S. energy security to the CCP. If the Vice President gets another four years, there is no question that she will double down on this dangerous track record, which prioritizes aspirational progressive climate policies over rising to the challenge from China.  

“This report provides a chilling snapshot of what is coming for Americans regarding energy policy if Vice President Harris continues implementing her agenda.”

Heritage’s Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and the Environment Diana Furchtgott-Roth, co-author of the report, added:  

“Vice President Harris is on record as opposing fracking, a technology which has driven down the price of natural gas, turned America into an oil and gas exporter, created millions of jobs, and raised economic growth. The Biden-Harris administration’s push for renewable energies and reducing domestic energy production would place a vital component of America’s economy into the hands of its top adversary—China.

“China now maintains significant advantages over the United States in production of renewables and electric vehicles. Mandating these technologies reduces jobs for American workers, slows the U.S. economy, and compromises our national security.”  

Below are some of the report’s major findings:  

• China dominates the critical mineral market, controlling 38% of global rare earth elements, 80% of solar component production, 85% of global battery production, and 80% of cobalt refining capacity. 

• The Biden-Harris administration has severely restricted access to critical minerals in the United States with draconian rules and regulations and has blocked at least five significant mines across the United States over the past two years.   

• The Chinese Communist Party is increasingly prioritizing China’s Electric Vehicle (EV) market. It subsidized this sector with $28 billion between 2009 and 2020 and plans to spend another $72 billion between 2023 and 2026.    

• China has not forgotten its fossil fuel sector. China is permitting or beginning construction on more than two coal power plants per week as the Biden-Harris administration continues to use regulations to force closure of U.S. plants.  

• China has created a cost advantage over the United States and Europe by having its government artificially set prices and production targets. Chinese wage rates are disproportionately low due to forced labor. 

• China is not forcing America to purchase its products. But the Biden-Harris administration is making America dependent on China by requiring firms and households to use renewable energy and electric vehicles. 

• The path forward to restoring energy independence includes removing requirements and subsidies to use renewable technologies and allowing American companies to develop domestic critical minerals required for U.S. production.