Meet the Biden Energy Official Who Fought To Shield China From US Solar Tariffs
Before scoring coveted role in Biden's Energy Department, Jigar Shah represented China's largest solar companies
Collin Anderson
January 26, 2023
When China's largest solar companies faced costly U.S. tariffs, they turned to industry veteran Jigar Shah to lobby on their behalf. Now, President Joe Biden is handing that same man hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to invest in green energy companies, prompting concern that the money could benefit Beijing.
Shah in late 2011 partnered with three Chinese solar giants to form the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, a nonprofit that mounted an aggressive campaign to kill U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar panels. As the group's president, Shah said evidence that his Chinese clients accepted illegal subsidies from Beijing was merely part of an "anti-China crusade." He also argued that American consumers could not afford solar panels without cheap Chinese goods, stressing the need for the two nations to "work together to solve our planet's energy and environmental crisis."
Years later, China could again stand to benefit from Shah's work. Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in March 2021 tapped Shah to run the department's Loan Programs Office, which is expected to flood the China-dominated green energy industry with billions of taxpayer dollars in the coming months. Shah's leading role in distributing that money—and the Biden administration's history of supporting Beijing-backed companies—have China hawks concerned that Biden's push to usher in a "clean energy economy" will ultimately benefit America's top adversary.
https://freebeacon.com/energy/meet-the-biden-energy-official-who-fought-to-shield-china-from-us-solar-tariffs/
