A leading K Street trade association with a track record of lobbying for policies that benefit Chinese Communist Party-affiliated solar manufacturers is attempting to trying to team up with conservatives to peddle its agenda, The National Pulse can reveal.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) recently hired Tim Pawlenty, former Republican governor of Minnesota, as its CEO. The group has even doled out cash to conservative-world “influencers” in an attempt to “MAGA-wash” its left-wing policies. Debra Lea, who in fact supported Ron DeSantis in the 2024 primary before flipping into a MAGA influencer after Trump won the nomination, “was paid by the solar industry to try to save credits in the GOP megabill,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The Big Beautiful Bill passing through Congress is definitely big but it can be a lot more beautiful,” she said in one video, shilling for a solar credits scheme that would cost taxpayers even more money.

The Trump Administration has taken notice, too, with an admin official telling The National Pulse: “The President is clearly opposed to China gaining a foothold in our energy sector. That’s why he’s put on various tariffs to keep these Chinese-made solar panels out of the U.S. SEIA obviously advocates for those Chinese interests, so it’s bizarre that any conservative would partner with them.”

In fact, SEIA has advocated so forcefully for China’s interests that Chinese state media has even positively cited the group’s work.

The Global Times, a news outlet controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, cited SEIA to argue that U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar panels are causing harm to U.S. industry. Likewise, China’s Global Times cited SEIA’s prediction of job losses in a piece about tariffs on imported solar panels.

While SEIA no longer discloses its members, it has counted U.S. subsidiaries of some of China’s largest solar manufacturers, including  JinkoSolar, JA Solar, Trina Solar, BYD and LONGi, amongst its members. Canadian Solar, which is tied to a large operating footprint in China, has also been a member. Notably, the CEO of Trina Solar, and the Chairmen of LONGi, JA Solar, and BYD hold influential positions in the Chinese Communist Party, even serving as Deputies in the People’s National Congress, the “highest organ of state power” and the only branch of government in China.

Many of these companies are also tied to the use of forced labor in Xinjiang, China. A subsidiary of JA Solar was added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list in 2025, while the other companies have had shipments detained under the law. And JinkoSolar, which served on SEIA’s Board until 2022, was raided by the Department of Homeland Security the following year, an action then Senator Marco Rubio described as “a sign the US must decouple from Chinese solar.”

Nick Iacovella, executive vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an organization that represents American manufacturers, spoke out about SEIA in a statement to The National Pulse.

“For years, the U.S. intelligence community has warned that China infiltrates American trade associations to push policy in Beijing’s direction — and SEIA is the textbook case. Go back through every major solar policy fight of the last six years: every single time SEIA had a choice between supporting American solar manufacturers or protecting Chinese producers, they sided with the Chinese,” Iacovella said.

“Not once — not one time — did they back an action that benefited the Americans they claim to represent. Chinese companies used to sit openly on their board; they’ve since scrubbed that from public view, but the advocacy never changed.”

SEIA, across several presidential administrations, has opposed and lobbied against every major trade enforcement action targeting Chinese solar manufacturers, claiming credit for delaying or blocking each one in its filings.

During the Obama administration, the group not only opposed tariffs against Chinese solar products, but even reportedly assisted Chinese-based manufacturers with informal legal advice. During the Biden government, the group joined an effort spending millions opposing a solar tariff investigation on Asian imports.

During both Trump Administrations the group has campaigned against import restrictions and even just last year, SEIA “spearhead[ed] the lobbying effort” against a tax on Foreign Entities of Concern.

So why are conservatives shilling for them? Well, clearly, the money is a huge factor. But the other part of it? They don’t expect you to notice.