Newsom's climate push deepens California's reliance on China, critics say

The opinion piece claims Governor Gavin Newsom’s climate strategy has turned California into a partner in China’s overseas influence campaign. Over eight years, the state has lost a quarter of its refineries, becoming heavily dependent on foreign oil and on rare minerals such as graphite, which China dominates. Newsom has championed a ban on new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and has pursued green-technology ties with Beijing, including a 2023 meeting with President Xi Jinping and a 2024 delegation that met Chinese officials in Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan, and Hong Kong.

Amy Tong, the secretary of state operations, acted as the governor’s envoy to events co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, an entity U.S. intelligence agencies say runs influence operations. A joint announcement at UC Berkeley’s California-China Climate Institute highlighted sub-national climate cooperation, while Newsom later defended his approach at the COP30 conference in Brazil, lambasting the Trump administration for its absence. The column concludes that these actions have weakened California’s energy independence and bolstered Chinese strategic interests.