Harris Economic Adviser Calls For ‘Clean Energy Marshall Plan’

A top economic adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the White House has called for the United States to establish a new federal program to loan foreign countries billions of dollars so they can buy American-made green energy technologies.

In an essay published Tuesday at Foreign Affairs, economist Brian Deese ― who led President Joe Biden’s National Economic Council until last year ― called for a “Clean Energy Marshall Plan,” modeled and named after the U.S. government program that financed Europe’s postwar reconstruction and opened new markets for the booming American manufacturing sector.

“As after World War II, the United States can be generous as well as pro-American in its approach,” Deese wrote. “It can promote U.S. interests by scaling its industries to meet global needs while winning greater influence in this new geopolitical landscape. And it can meet developing countries where they are ― supplying them with the energy they need to expand their economies and the innovation they need to decarbonize efficiently.”

Just one month after Biden dropped out of the race, the nascent Harris campaign has had little time to add new planks to the party’s policy platform, with the most high-profile proposals so far focusing on ways to increase production of new housing and cap surging grocery prices. Deese’s essay offers a glimpse into how a Harris administration might build on Biden’s landmark climate-spending laws, which have spurred droves of new factories to manufacture solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles.

At the core of Deese’s proposal is the idea for a new funding agency called the Clean Energy Finance Authority.

“The Marshall Plan had a straightforward aim: subsidize European demand for