The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly stated that US government support to six American solar and wind power projects violates free trade rules as outlined by the WTO. The Ministry has also suggested that these subsidies are blocking Chinese imports into the United States and that furthermore, these projects violate Article III of the Uruguay Round’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the 1947 GATT arrangement.

The accusation comes in response to Washington’s recent tariffs on Chinese solar power companies, accused of flooding American markets with cheap products as a result of “dumping”. This is a clear ‘tit for tat’ relationship here, as ASP Analyst Matthew Wallin pointed out last month.

However, there is a larger picture that both sides are missing in the trade tensions over renewable energy. First, we must remember that despite the recent flare-up over government support for renewables, Sino-U.S. trade battles are nothing new. Economic disputes between China and the West have, unfortunately, long characterized the trade relationship.

Second, this nitpicking on trade law is missing a larger point: that if the price of renewable technology decreases, that is good for American consumers. Even if the Chinese are “dumping” solar panels, it’s a good thing for the US; Chinese companies lose money by selling cheap. Yes, rival U.S. manufacturers will lose jobs, but much like the smartphone wars, those jobs were headed to China the minute Deng Xiaoping unleashed its massive labor force.

 Comparative American expertise lies in design, finance and deployment, not production. Designed in the US, made in China, and deployed around the world should be the catchphrase of the emerging solar and wind industries. China and the US would do well to worry less about protecting domestic markets and more about making clean energy cheap and available.

And the demand is there. Recent studies by IMS Research have also shown that Americans are taking advantage of the low price of solar technology and are on track to become the third largest market for photovoltaics in 2012. And it’s not just the U.S.; the annual growth of solar is up around the world (see chart).

‘Green jobs’ are not the reason to endorse clean energy. Clean energy is important (and possible) because we want secure, sustainable fuel sources; efficiency and low costs require letting the jobs go where the market decides.

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