China already has the largest solar market in the world , seeing as they ' re the largest solar manufacturer in the world , to the point where they made so many solar panels , the bottom almost dropped out of the solar market over there . That ' s why solar panels are so cheap now . Also , China has almost all of the rare earth metals on earth which needed in high techelectronicgreen manufacturing , so the hope for the US to overtake them in that area is pretty remote . The US designs stuff then has China build it . China then steals the designs and puts out their own cheaper copies . China can ' t innovate , they can only copy . The US can ' t build , we don ' t have the raw materials . China and the US need each other if there is going to be technological progress .