China spent the past 40 years building an industrial powerhouse, fueled by coal while American politicians, Europe, and California focused on decarbonizing and green washing. Such efforts enabled the purchase of Chinese wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries, made from cheap coal, further subsidized power, and forced labor. These products have been forced into the grid at the expense of the consumer, the economy, and the nation, driving electricity prices higher and reliability lower.
As the Western world buys cheap Chinese green tech, China continues to build out its manufacturing base. China now boasts one third of the world’s power generation, more than 10,000 TWh. In 2024, China added more than 500 TWh of coal fired power generation, equivalent to half of Japan’s entire grid. More than 5,800 TWh of China’s power generation comes from coal alone. China has more coal fired power generation than any nation on earth has total power generation. China consumes more coal now than any time in history and constitutes more than half of global coal consumption.
Coal is reliable, energy secure, cheap, and easily transportable. It produces direct process heat for industrial use and stable, dispatchable baseload power generation. The Chinese green tech that European countries and U.S. states prize is only cheap because it is subsidized, made with inexpensive coal, forced labor, and in a country with no rule of law, let alone environmental standards.
The reason China controls the rare earth market is because they process and refine the rare earths and metals, a dirty and energy intensive business that requires removing thorium and uranium. China’s access to ample, redundant power from coal allows them to dominate the processing of rare earths, but it also enables them to make everything from smartphones to weapons and robotics.
U.S. utility companies with executive pay tied to ESG metrics and states with unfair power purchase agreements (including Texas), have favored adding wind and solar into the grid at the expense of reliable baseload power, including coal and natural gas. These states flood the grid with intermittent wind and solar, leading directly to rising electricity prices. These states are also removing reliable baseload power in the form of inexpensive coal.
This is taking place in Colorado. In California, the result is rolling blackouts, imported electricity, and some of the highest power prices in the nation. It is worse in Europe; a war is being waged, and European nations lack the power generation to build the ammunition and weapons to support Ukraine.
Germany has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. Drones, AI, and air defense all require power generation. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are not making weapons with wind and solar power nor is Ukraine defending their country and making drones with it.
When it comes to energy, the U.S. should be winning the competition with China. The U.S. is producing 13.6 million barrels per day (mbd) of oil, more than any nation on earth, ever. That is almost 4 mbd more than the next two largest producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, who produce roughly 10 mbd. The U.S. produces 130 Billion Cubic Feet per day of natural gas, more than double Russia, the second-largest producer in the world.
Natural gas makes up a substantial portion of the U.S. grid, but the grid has weakened as politicians forced the green agenda, pushing wind and solar at the expense of low-cost coal. The U.S. now has more wind and solar power generation than coal.
The Trump Administration’s policy shifts and energy agenda are critical in head-to-head competition with China. Energy is the lifeblood of a nation. The Trump Administration understands that without abundant and reliable power, America cannot manufacture.
In his U.N. address, Trump called out Europe’s energy failures and high electricity prices. His Interior Department just opened 13.1 million acres for coal leasing, ending an Obama-era de facto moratorium. The EPA is moving to rescind the Endangerment Finding, which weakened America’s energy security by shuttering coal power plants. China’s cheap and reliable coal power underpins its industrial manufacturing power. If America wants to remain free, strong, and prosperous, we must unleash our energy resources, including natural gas and coal, rebuild our industrial base, and embrace affordable and reliable power.
Trisha Curtis is a macroeconomist with expertise in U.S. shale markets, geopolitics and China. She is CEO of PetroNerds, host of the “PetroNerds” podcast and an economist for the American Energy Institute.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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