Trump Hits Southeast Asian Solar Panels With Tariffs as High as 3,521%

Under President Trump’s tariff-happy administration, nary manufacture is being spared. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized hefty tariffs connected star sheet cells imported from Southeast Asia successful a expected effort to halt China from cheating. 

In a press release, the section stated that the tariffs would people Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The nonstop percent varies depending connected the country. For example, Malaysian products from Jinko Solar volition spot tariffs of 41.56 percent, and Trina Solar successful Thailand volition spot 375.19 percent. Cambodia, however, volition look duties astatine a whopping 3,521 percent due to the fact that it didn’t cooperate with U.S. investigations.

This determination is an update to a lawsuit brought past twelvemonth by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, which accused China of “dumping” inventory. In short, the radical claimed that Chinese companies with factories successful Southeast Asia were receiving subsidies from China to vessel star panels beneath their accumulation cost.

“The Commerce Department is holding China accountable for its transnational subsidies done different countries that harm American industry,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. “The Commerce Department continues to enforce our commercialized laws afloat truthful that we tin rebuild U.S. manufacturing and reconstruct American competitiveness. We indispensable guarantee a level playing tract for American businesses and workers.”

Last year, U.S. commercialized officials announced preliminary tariffs, but these finalized percentages are overmuch higher. In a property release, Tim Brightbill, a lawyer for the Alliance, labeled the caller tariffs a “decisive victory” against Chinese manufacturers that are “cheating the system”. He added, “Enforcing our commercialized laws isn’t conscionable a ineligible matter—it’s indispensable to rebuilding our concern base, securing our vigor independence, and protecting American jobs.”

Over the past decade, star deployments successful the U.S. person seen an mean maturation of 28%. So, it’s not astonishing that the manufacture has been a repeated taxable of interest. Funny enough, the erstwhile Trump medication hit imported star panels with a 30 percent tariff successful 2018, which basically cipher liked. The pursuing year, the Solar Energy Industries Association reported that tariffs outgo implicit 62,000 jobs successful the U.S. At the time, SEIA president Abigail Ross Hopper said, “This stark information should beryllium the predicate for removing harmful tariffs and allowing star to reasonably vie and proceed creating jobs for Americans.”

In June, the International Trade Commission volition ballot to find if these tariffs really spell into effect. If so, the star manufacture whitethorn beryllium astatine hazard again.