Meet the Biden Energy Official Who Fought To Shield China From US Solar Tariffs

Jigar Shah represented China’s largest solar companies before being appointed to the Energy Department of Biden.

China’s biggest solar companies were hit hard by high-priced tariffs from the United States. Industry veteran Jigar Shah lobbied for them. Now, President Joe Biden is giving that same man hundreds and billions of dollars from taxpayers to invest in green energy businesses, raising concerns about Beijing’s potential benefit.

Shah formed the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy in late 2011 with three Chinese giants of solar energy. The nonprofit was tasked with fighting U.S. tariffs for Chinese solar panels. Shah served as the group’s president. said Evidence that his Chinese clients received illegal subsidies from Beijing was just one part of an investigation. “anti-China crusade.” He also argued American consumers were unable to afford solar panels without purchasing cheap Chinese goods. This highlights the need for both nations. “work together to solve our planet’s energy and environmental crisis.”

China could once again benefit from Shah’s work years later. Jennifer Granholm, Biden Energy Secretary in March 2021 tapped Shah To manage the department’s Loan Programs Office. This office is expected flood the China-dominated green power industry with billions in taxpayer dollars over the next 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” America’s top enemy will eventually be a winner.

For example, Mike Pompeo, a former secretary of state, spoke out to highlight one loan application Shah’s office is looking into from Lithium Americas. The Canadian company—which plans to mine tens of thousands of tons of lithium from a site in northern Nevada—counts a Chinese mineral giant with ties to the Chinese Communist Party The largest shareholder of the company is the Washington Free Beacon September report. Three months later, Lithium Americas, a conference participant, expressed confidence that Shah’s office will lend it a loan to fund the mine. This possibility is troubling for Pompeo.

“It should concern all Americans that a Biden administration political appointee at the Department of Energy once had deep ties to CCP-backed firms,” Pompeo said the Free Beacon. “It is no secret that the CCP wants America’s national rare earth mineral supply to be controlled, and the Biden administration may just do it.”