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Figure 8.
WTO disputes between the U.S. and China, 2002-2016.
Source: World Trade Organization
Renewable energy products were one of the goods that caused trade disputes
between the U.S. and China. The dispute on Chinese solar products emerged in 2012,
when several other trade disputes were ongoing between China and the U.S. The issue of
solar products was discussed with the issues of other goods. Therefore, the overall trade
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World Trade Organization, “Disputes by country/territory.”
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_by_country_e.htm
(accessed March
30, 2017)
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1
2
3
4
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
N
umb
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of
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se
s
Submitted by China
Submitted by the US
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conflict between the U.S. and China has affected how solar product trade issue was
framed and was solved in both countries.
The global financial crisis and the rise of China in the global economy have
changed the external environment of renewable energy development. The effects of the
global financial crisis were mostly negative, but the effects of the rise of China were
more complicated since the effects were different among actors as well as among
countries. These complicated effects are discussed in each analysis of this research.
Research design
Among renewable energy sources, this research focuses on solar PV. Solar PV is
the most substantially growing field in renewable energy in recent years. With this
growth, a global value chain was created since many solar PV corporations have
expanded their business overseas. This led solar PV industry to be more globalized
compared to the other renewable energy industries. To examine the case of the most
globalized renewable energy industry enables to understand what will happen for the
other renewable energy sources as the industries of them become globalized.
This research consists of three separate analyses (Table 4). Each analysis focuses
on a different aspect of the globalization of renewable energy industry. Analysis 1 and
Analysis 2 focuses on the effects of multinational renewable energy corporations on
national policies as actors. Analysis 1 examines the behavior of multinational solar PV
corporations to change national policies. Since multinational corporations have resources
and capabilities to affect policies beyond their national boundaries, it is expected that
they can be critical actors to affect national policies. Analysis 2 focuses on the political
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interactions among multinational and domestic actors. While the first analysis examines
the behavior of an actor, the second analysis investigates the interplay of actors to change
a policy. Finally, Analysis 3 focuses on the change of market conditions by the
globalization of renewable energy industry. It investigates how national renewable
energy policies have actually changed under the changes of the global renewable energy
market.
Analysis 1 answers:
How have multinational renewable energy corporations
affected national policies?
The proposition is that multinational renewable energy
corporations are more likely to engage in policymaking for favorable policies under the
challenges of the global market. This proposition was developed based on the
institutional theory, which will be reviewed in the Chapter 2. To answer this question, a
content analysis of the 125 annual reports of the top 15 solar PV multinational
corporations was conducted.
The research question of Analysis 2 is:
How have diverse actors framed
renewable energy trade issues?
The proposition, which was also developed grounded in
the institutional theory, is that the central domestic actors of a renewable energy field
have framed renewable energy trade issues with a traditional environmental frame. The
research method is a discourse network analysis. The articles from the seven U.S.
newspapers on the U.S.-China solar panel trade were used as data.
Finally, Analysis 3 answers:
What has caused the increasing divesity in national
renewable energy policies?
The proposition is that the growth of domestic renewable
energy industries has caused the diversification of national renewable energy policies as
renewable energy industries have become globalized. This is grounded in the theory of
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policy convergence, which will be reviewed in Chapter 2. The research method is a case
study of the U.S. and South Korea.
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