Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 49 2022

AsiaElec POLICY AsiaElec

US finds four Chinese solar firms

have been evading import tariffs

CHINA US officials have preliminarily determined that complaint as “existential” for his company.
four Chinese solar panel firms have been avoid- “When prices of finished panels from South-
ing US tariffs by operating in Southeast Asia. east Asia come in below our bill of materials cost,
The Commerce Department probe, which American manufacturers cannot compete,” he
started in March, looked at Trump-era tariffs told CNN. “If foreign producers are circumvent-
slapped on eight Chinese firms because of unfair ing US law and causing harm to US producers
trade relations. like Auxin Solar, it needs to be addressed.”
It found that four companies – BYD Hong After the ruling, he added in a statement that
Kong, Canadian Solar, Trina and LONGi Green the findings “largely validated and confirmed
Energy Technology – have in fact been circum- Auxin’s allegations of Chinese cheating…. We
venting the tariffs by using four Southeast Asian will continue to press forward in these cases as
countries for minimal operations to disguise they continue to make sure all trade cheats are
their trade. They should be subject to additional playing by the rules.”
tariffs, said the department. Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of
The Commerce Department investigation, the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade
which launched in March, looked at eight com- association, said of the preliminary finding:
panies that manufacture solar panels and parts “We’re obviously disappointed that [the Depart-
in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. ment of] Commerce elected to exceed its legal
The allegation is that they only do minimal authority. As a basic fact, solar cell and module
manufacturing of cheap panels in Southeast Asia manufacturing greatly exceed the anti-circum-
so as to dodge US trade laws. vention statute’s ‘minor or insignificant process-
LONGi said on December 5 that it will pro- ing’ limitation.
vide evidence to show it is not illegally circum- “The only good news here is that Commerce
venting tariffs. The other companies have not didn’t target all imports from the subject coun-
commented. tries. Nonetheless, this decision will strand bil-
Clean energy advocates have also slammed lions of dollars’ worth of American clean energy
the probe, saying the tariffs will cost the US investments and result in the significant loss
both solar projects and jobs because prices will of good-paying, American, clean energy jobs.
escalate because a new supply chain has not yet While President Biden was wise to provide a
developed. two-year window before the tariff implemen-
New East Solar Cambodia, Hanwha Q CELLS tation, that window is quickly closing, and two
Malaysia, Jinko Solar Malaysia and Boviet Solar’s years is simply not enough time to establish
operations in Vietnam were found not to be cir- manufacturing supply chains that will meet US
cumventing tariffs. solar demand. This is a mistake we will have to
If the decision is finalised, the four compa- deal with for the next several years.”
nies will be subject to duties on the products they Another trade group, the American Clean
make in Southeast Asia starting in June 2024. In Power Association (ACP), was similarly critical.
an unusual move that was a concession to US “Today’s announcement from the Depart-
clean energy lobbyists, President Joe Biden had ment of Commerce is a step backward for the
in June waived higher tariffs for two years. United States,” said ACP’s CEO and chief advo-
The full probe is expected to be completed on cacy officer, JC Sandberg. “This decision upends
May 1, 2023. a decade of precedent that Commerce itself
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam established, undercutting any sense of business
account for about 80% of US panel supplies. The certainty that American companies rely on to
Biden administration is rapidly trying to ramp continue investing in America’s clean energy
up solar and other clean energies to decarbonise future and impacting our ability to reduce our
the grid. It has set an ambitious goal of getting dependence on foreign energy sources.
all of the nation’s electricity from carbon-free “American solar companies are making
energy sources by 2035. critical 2024 procurement decisions now and
To reach that goal, the US Department of today’s decision casts greater uncertainty about
Energy (DoE) said in 2021 that hundreds of giga- the future of the solar industry in the US that
watts of solar energy need to be installed as much could lead to higher electricity bills. It could also
as five times faster than now. undermine the impact of the Inflation Reduc-
The Department of Commerce probe was tion Act, harming domestic manufacturing and
started at the request of a California-based com- endangering good-paying jobs across the coun-
pany named Auxin Solar, a small panel manu- try,” he said.™
facturer. The company’s CEO has described the

Week 49 06•December•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9