“The Solar Reconquista” of the United States: The Beginning of the End of Chinese Dominance?

Trump’s second term has been marked, in particular, by radical efforts to eliminate Chinese control over the technological supply chains for solar panel production in the United States. To this end, under Trump’s well-known protectionist “One Big Beautiful Bill,” adopted in 2025 and ridiculed by all opposition figures, the U.S. International Trade Commission decided to bar companies linked to China from accessing federal clean energy tax credits.

Back in 2023, it was estimated that Chinese manufacturers could receive up to $125 billion in renewable energy tax credits in the United States under the Inflation Reduction Act adopted by the Biden administration, which provided enormous incentives and subsidies for the production of non-hydrocarbon electricity.

By adopting this landmark protectionist decision and depriving Chinese companies of support from the U.S. budget, the United States immediately curbed Chinese expansion and reversed the process. Chinese solar companies began rapidly selling their enterprises to American firms. Since 2025, nearly $9 billion in Chinese renewable energy investments in America have been canceled, frozen, or sold to local investors—compared to virtually zero in 2022 and 2023. Some assets were sold at discounts of up to 40 percent.

For example, the Chinese manufacturer Boway sold its newly built three-gigawatt solar module plant in North Carolina for $254 million. Meanwhile, Jinko Solar, China’s largest solar energy conglomerate, sold a 75% stake in its two-gigawatt plant in Jacksonville, Florida, to an American investor.

Thus, Chinese companies are selling their U.S. factories at bargain prices, while American investors are acquiring facilities, technologies, and know-how. But a complete victory in this technological battle is still far off! China still produces about 95% of the world’s polysilicon—the primary raw material for solar panels—and some of the announced deals amount to superficial restructuring aimed at compliance rather than a genuine return of production to the United States.

Notably, even the American companies now acquiring these plants say they will need higher tariffs on Chinese polysilicon to compete globally. They are calling for tough global tariffs across the entire solar energy supply chain—from polysilicon to finished modules—so that these capacities are restored in America and remain in America.

This is how business is done in industries that constitute national economic sovereignty and technological security! Only uncompromising protectionist measures, implemented despite fierce criticism, noise, and hype from all-powerful globalists and neoliberals, can lead to the beginning of a “technological reconquista.” Markets must always be fought for, and the political economy of “mutually beneficial” trade has quietly given way to the political economy of rivalry.

You can also ознакомиться with additional materials on this topic:

Chinese Expansion in the U.S. Solar Energy Market, as well as The United States’ Attempt to Eliminate Chinese Technological Dominance.