Impact of United States energy and climate policies on China’s energy industry: Comparison of Biden and Trump period

Abstract

As an important field, energy trade significantly impacts China and the United States. Energy and climate policies in the U.S. impact China’s energy industry differently. Climate and energy policies have also changed in tandem with changes in the U.S. regime. By comparing the energy policies of the Biden and Trump administrations, the impact of different U.S. energy and climate policies on China’s energy industry was discussed, and the industry's development status was analyzed. In addition, corresponding strategies for China's energy industry's rapid and stable development are proposed. The current research results show that: (i) China has become an importer of traditional fossil energy in the United States since the Trump period, and U.S. energy and climate policies have had different impacts on China’s energy industry; (ii) China's natural gas imports from United States in China rose from 2.19 million tons (Trump period) to 8.98 million tons (Biden period); however, China's oil imports from United States continued to decline, from a maximum of 8.427 million tons (Trump period) to 1.147 million tons (Biden period); (iii) China’s photovoltaic solar cell exports under Biden period increased by 43.7% compared to the Trump period (2020). In addition, United States energy and climate policies will lead to increased demand for photovoltaic solar cells in the global market, which has a positive impact on China's new energy industry represented by solar photovoltaics.