The U.S. Senate’s latest sweeping budget bill—now hurtling toward a potential vote—has effectively gutted long-standing tax incentives for wind and solar energy, delivering a major setback to America’s clean energy ambitions while introducing, for the first time, a new tax burden on these projects, according to renewable energy advocates.

Since 2005, tax credits have been the cornerstone of federal efforts to stimulate investment in renewable power. Hopes had lingered earlier in the week that senators might rewrite the bill’s provisions to preserve the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) tax incentives or extend their benefits. But in a surprise overnight maneuver, Senate leaders unveiled new language that industry groups say would terminate these vital supports immediately.

China’s manufacturing sector is expected to shrink for the second consecutive month in May, as mounting global trade tensions and weak domestic demand threaten to derail the country’s already fragile economic recovery. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), due for release on Saturday, is likely to come in at 49.5—slightly up from April’s 49.0 but still below the 50-point threshold that signals contraction.

This subdued factory outlook arrives amid an escalating two-front trade war with the United States and the European Union, exposing the vulnerability of China’s $19 trillion export-dependent economy just as it attempts to emerge from a prolonged post-COVID slump.

Chinese copper smelters are facing potential disruptions in scrap metal supply as new regulations aimed at ensuring fair competition inadvertently reduce available feedstock. The Fair Competition Review regulation, scheduled to be enforced in August, prohibits local tax benefits without specific approvals, impacting many of…