United States (US) President Donald Trump aims to keep American companies inside the US to secure American employment. International trade analysis suggests, though, this is a wrongheaded policy. The present situation is one where Japan, Korea, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) export intermediary goods to China, these countries’ subsidiaries or factories in China use a large proportion of these goods to assemble final goods for export to the US, European Union (EU), Japan, and elsewhere, and the US imports substantial amounts of assembled goods from China while exporting much less to China than those East Asian nations.

China is the number one producer of and investor in renewable energy globally. Illustrating this, it has over 500 solar panel manufacturing companies, including the world’s top three solar panel producers. Its capabilities have allowed it to take a leading role in renewable energy investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The latter’s interest in renewables seems surprising given that MENA countries are primarily known for their massive oil and gas reserves and reliance on fossil fuel as a major source of domestic energy and export earnings.