US oil exports are surging as Saudi and Russian exports are disrupted by US-led wars and sanctions — but, there is a big ‘but’ here, the true and permanent winner of Trump’s Iran war might be China’s clean-tech industry.
Exports of Chinese-made solar cells hit 1.7bn units in March, a record high for a single month, the Financial Times reported.
Trump’s Iran war has propelled China’s cleantech industry https://t.co/cme8pBMfew
— Financial Times (@FT) June 11, 2026
Demand in March and April was led by Southeast Asia and Africa, highlighting “how swaths of the oil-dependent developing world have emerged as key markets for low-cost Chinese renewable energy technologies.”
Asia and Africa leading the change — from oil to renewable
Germany’s DW noted that renewable initiatives since US/Israel/UK war on Iran include but are not limited to:
- Indonesia — The president called the crisis a “wakeup call for electrification” and announced that motorcycles need to switch to electric.
- Vietnam — The country’s largest conglomerate, Vingroup, cancelled its largest LNG-fired power plant project and is replacing it with renewables.
- Philippines — Announced big solar pledges in response to the energy shock.
- South Korea — Announced big solar pledges as part of its energy security push.
All of this renewable infrastructure will largely be purchased from China, which manufactures roughly 90% of the world’s solar panels and dominates wind turbines, batteries, and EV supply chains, DW said.
DW interviewed Sam Geall, associate fellow at Chatham House, who emphasized the lower risk involved in renewable energy systems:
But I will say that there is a difference between fossil fuel energy imports and renewable energy systems in so far as you can’t actually blockade the sun. You can’t blockade the wind. Once you build out these systems, they do provide greater resilience from the kind of entanglements and volatility associated with imported fossil fuels.
In other words, unlike oil tankers or gas pipelines, sunlight and wind cannot be cut off by foreign powers, military conflict, or blocked shipping lanes.
This means good news for China’s electricity output and clean technology exports, which had already scaled record highs in 2025.
Scam or opportunity of the century
The Wall Street Journal said that despite Trump branding wind and solar power “the scam of the century.” One outcome of his Iran war will be increased demand for Chinese solar panels and wind turbines. This is an unlikely legacy for a president who promised to unleash American fossil fuels— “drill, baby, drill.”
FT cited data from Mission Possible Partnership, which showed nineteen clean industry projects globally reached final investment decisions in the past six months, more than double the rate recorded a year earlier.
Of these projects more than two-thirds are in China.
US is currently benefiting from their destablization of oil production in Middle East, Russia and South America.
WSJ noted Trump saying that “countries should respond to Middle East uncertainty by buying more American oil and natural gas. “We have plenty,” he said in early April.”
Trump is calling renewables the scam, not his destabilisation-led increase in US oil exports.
But the evidence is suggesting — destabilisation will also lead to long-term reality demand destruction for oil.
The scammer-in-chief is accidentally scamming himself.
Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images
By Nandita Lal
From Canary via This RSS Feed.
In other words, unlike oil tankers or gas pipelines, sunlight and wind cannot be cut off by foreign powers, military conflict, or blocked shipping lanes.
This means good news for China’s electricity output and clean technology exports, which had already scaled record highs in 2025…
Trump is calling renewables the scam, not his destabilisation-led increase in US oil exports.
But the evidence is suggesting — destabilisation will also lead to long-term reality demand destruction for oil.
The scammer-in-chief is accidentally scamming himself.
We played this game back in the Bush Era, when gas hit similarly catastrophic heights. I had a friend who owned a Toyota Echo (think Prius but before the hybrid engine) and flipped it for its MSRP, because small cars were in such high demand and low supply.
One outcome of his Iran war will be increased demand for Chinese solar panels and wind turbines. This is an unlikely legacy for a president who promised to unleash American fossil fuels— “drill, baby, drill.”
I should note that, as a person who currently lives in Houston and therefore is dick deep in the fossil fuel industry, the Permian Basin is doing gangbusters right now. We are sucking West Texas off like a Manhattan Brothel on Wall Street Bonus Day. And quite a bit of that NGL extract is getting bottled up and shipped overseas, because European fuel prices are well above the US average.
I fucking wish the outcome of this policy was a flood of low-cost high-quality renewable energy getting built out at rapid pace. But it’s been more of a mixed bag.
That said, we’re also draining fuel reserves that were supposed to last us decades inside a much shorter time horizon. And the US doesn’t have the fuel reserves to match the Middle East. Or even South America (which we’re also squeezing out of the energy market).
What we’re seeing, in practice, is a massive economic shift in favor of US energy export markets. And that’s happening just as the rest of the globe is souring on the international trade and travel Americans had spent 40 years trailblazing. So… idk exactly what happens next. But US imperialists seem to profit both coming and going, which I find somewhat demoralizing.
