【By Observer News, Xiong Chaoran】With a new tax measure being included in a 900-page bill released on June 27 local time, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have escalated their attacks on the country's solar and wind energy projects, planning to impose a new tax on future renewable energy development projects.

According to "Politico" on June 28 local time, this bill will significantly cut the tax credits for solar and wind energy projects under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Previously, the president had tried to further strike these incentives, requiring power generation projects to be operational by the end of 2027 to qualify for tax credits, thereby further restricting the incentive policy.

Reuters reported on the same day that Chuck Schumer, the leader of the minority party (Democrats) in the U.S. Senate, stated that Democrats would force Republicans to read aloud the lengthy 940-page tax and spending bill in the Senate.

"Republicans won't tell Americans what this bill contains. Therefore, Democrats are forcing the bill to be read from start to finish on the floor," Schumer wrote on the social media platform X: "If necessary, we are willing to stay here all night to read it."

On June 28 local time, billionaire Elon Musk strongly criticized this tax reform bill and denounced the reduction of electric vehicle and other clean energy credit amounts as a "major disaster" for the United States. He posted a chart on the social media platform X and wrote: "Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republicans."

On June 27 local time, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the minority party (Democrats), talks with reporters. China Vision.

"Politico" noted that this new consumption tax will be another major blow to the fastest-growing way of electricity production in the United States. Since this tax applies even to projects that do not receive any tax credits, it may bring significant setbacks to the wind and solar industries.

"This is a fatal blow; the new tax on wind and solar aims to completely crush the industry," said Adrian Deveny, founder and president of the policy consulting company Climate Vision, who previously served as a policy advisor to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and helped draft the Inflation Reduction Act.

An analyst at the research firm Rhodium Group said in an email that the new tax will increase the cost of wind and solar projects by 10% to 20%, not including additional costs caused by the cancellation of tax credits. "Combined with the heavy administrative reporting burden this regulation may bring, these cost increases will lead to further reductions in wind and solar installations, and the impact of this tax will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity prices," Rhodium Group stated.

The report mentioned that according to written regulations, any wind or solar project put into operation after 2027 that has a certain proportion of component value from prohibited foreign entities, such as China, will face an additional tax, which will cancel its eligibility for investment and production tax credits. This clause applies to all projects started after June 16 of this year.

This clause will require wind and solar projects, even those that do not receive tax credits, to comply with complex and potentially unfeasible regulations prohibiting purchases from relevant foreign entities — an effort to promote domestic production in the United States and limit the use of Chinese materials. Additionally, to align with the Republicans' support for the fossil fuel industry, the revised bill also established a new production tax credit for metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

On June 26 local time, The Guardian noted that climate negotiations between the U.S. and China have been turbulent since Trump took office in January 2021. Trump withdrew from several important environmental agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement. At the time, he claimed, "The U.S. will not destroy its own industry while China pollutes freely."

Now, Trump's accusations are ironic given China's impressive data in clean energy. After all, while China has steadily fulfilled its climate change commitments step by step, the Trump administration was overturning a series of clean energy policies, and U.S. politicians were still fighting for their own political interests, even using the "China card" to stir up trouble.

On April 27, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wrote in The Financial Times, warning the Trump administration must implement a clear and pragmatic national energy strategy. Developing clean energy is crucial for the U.S. if it wants to win the artificial intelligence competition with China. He said that the Chinese government's goal is to lead in future technologies, and they know energy policy will be key. In 2024, China's investment in renewable energy exceeded the total of the U.S., EU, and UK combined. In contrast, the growth rate of electricity demand in the U.S. has already exceeded the capacity building speed of utility companies.

In March this year, Simon Evans, an analyst at the British research institution Carbon Brief, said that it is expected that China's clean energy investment will continue to grow in 2025. China has obvious advantages in the clean energy industry and is competitive globally, maintaining a thriving trend. Moreover, under the goal of energy transition, developing clean energy technology industries is an inevitable choice for China. In addition, China is a solid force in combating climate change. In the future, clean energy technology will continue to support China's economic development.

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