Under pressure from the Obama administration and organized labor, China last week said it would end wind power equipment subsidies challenged in a World Trade Organization dispute.

This is important for Ohio manufacturers aiming to retool to support a growing renewable energy industry, in particular ongoing plans to tap wind energy from Lake Erie. Economic development experts have cited Dayton companies as potential beneficiaries of renewable development.

The U.S. challenged several hundreds of millions in subsidies following an investigation after a United Steelworkers petition was filed. The subsidies took the form of undisclosed Chinese government grants to its wind turbine manufacturers that agreed to use key parts and components made in China rather than purchasing imports.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Tuesday that “the United States is pleased that China has shut down this subsidy program. Subsidies requiring the use of local content are particularly harmful and are expressly prohibited under WTO rules. This outcome helps ensure fairness for American clean technology innovators and workers. We challenged these subsidies so that American manufacturers can produce wind turbine components here in the United States and sell them in China. That supports well-paying jobs here at home.”

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, saying he wants to make the state the “Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing,” last year criticized a federal clean-energy stimulus grant program that paid more than $1 billion to foreign manufacturers. He sent a letter along with 42 other senators to the Obama administration urging the suspension of the program.

Brown said that more than 70 percent of the components of clean energy systems are produced outside the U.S.