Joe Biden has come through again for America’s enemies the Chinese Communists as his woke climate bill seemingly proved a boon for the Chinese battery market. Is Biden’s agenda green or red?
Even as environmental restrictions prove burdensome for any American company looking to mine and refine our deposits of rare earths (necessary for electronics/batteries), China dominates that market. This turns out to be a problem since U.S. “green” subsidies triggered increased demand for Chinese batteries.
The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was not only supposed to subsidize inefficient, unreliable, and toxic “green” energy but also provide competition to Communist China. According to the Daily Wire on Feb. 20, the IRA actually did the opposite. It's hardly surprising since China controls 70% of rare earths mining globally and around 89% of key rare earths refining.
Biden signed the IRA into law in August 2022. It created what Daily Wire calls “a bevy of green energy subsidies” to launch America’s transition away from reliable “fossil fuels” (i.e. gas, coal, and oil — which aren’t actually from fossils) and, according to Biden himself, to “compete with China.” But the Daily Wire notes how reality is the opposite of Biden’s alleged goal:
Since the law was enacted, imports of Chinese components for electric vehicles to the U.S. have skyrocketed, according to a review of government data by The Washington Free Beacon. The data call into question whether the IRA has failed at one of its key goals.
China is a major supplier of rare earth minerals that are used in green energy technology, such as solar panels, electric cars, and wind turbines. While imports for components that use rare earth minerals have risen over the course of Biden’s presidency, the increase became more pronounced after the implementation of the IRA.
More specifically, imports of Chinese lithium-ion batteries went from a monthly average of $473 million between January 2021 and July 2022, to over $1 billion monthly after the IRA was signed. It seems that the laundered Chinese money Biden and family received is nothing compared to the U.S. cash China is getting post-IRA.
Related: Feds to Wreck Millions of Acres With Solar Panels As U.S. Enemies Step Up Coal, Gas
This is particularly egregious as America has more than enough rare earths to usurp China’s supremacy in this market if only we would mine and refine them. Our one rare earths mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., sends its product to China for refining. Last year, a huge rare earths discovery in Wyoming confirmed the fact we could decouple from Communist China if only we wanted to (from Tipp Insights):
A discovery of 2.34 billion metric tons of rare earth elements (REEs) in a mine outside of Sheridan, Wyoming, has generated great excitement across industries stateside. For one, the reserves are estimated to be bigger than China’s current reserves, implying that this single find could end America’s reliance on Chinese exports if exploited judiciously…
[T]the mine is said to be rich in two of the most sought-after rare earth elements - neodymium and praseodymium oxides. Considering that rare earth minerals are crucial to a wide range of industries as varied as computer chips, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, specialized glass products, and defense purposes, being self-sufficient could have a consequential impact on the country’s economy.
The Biden administration has sabotaged and restricted the U.S. mining industry — even the mining that would help his “green” agenda! The Biden administration has undermined our mining industry and our energy independence and helped out China’s battery industry. His administration is America Last every time.
