Podesta Meets With China’s Climate Envoy Amid Deep Economic Tensions

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May 8, 2024Updated 2:35 p.m. ET The world’s two most powerful countries, the United States and China, are meeting this week in Washington to talk about climate change.
Or there would be less need to dig a lithium mine at an environmentally sensitive site in Nevada, because lithium, which is essential for batteries, could be bought worry-free from China, which controls the world’s supply.
Those competing goals will be at the center of talks on Wednesday and Thursday as the Biden Administration’s top climate envoy, John Podesta, meets for the first time with his counterpart from Beijing, Liu Zhenmin, in Washington.
The flood of Chinese exports, particularly in solar panels and other green-energy technology, has become a real sore spot for the Biden administration as it tries to spur the same industries on American soil.