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The U.S. International Trade Commission has implemented steep tariffs to counter what it considers unfair trade practices supporting U.S. solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. They will definitively take effect in mid-June. By Ben Santarris . A key arbiter in U.S. trade disputes with foreign economies voted unanimously Tuesday that imports of solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam have materially harmed the U.S. solar industry. The affirmative vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) means that the tough duties, also known as tariffs, that the U.S. Department of Commerce had proposed against these imports will definitively take effect in mid-June. In assessing the duties, the Commerce Department sought to accurately offset the degree of improper subsidization and price dumping it believes underlies the imports at issue, which originate largely from Chinese manufacturers operating in the four Southeast Asian countries. The antidumping and antisubsidy cases originated in the American Solar Manufacturing Alliance Committee, which includes domestic producers such as First Solar, Mission Solar, and Hanwha Qcells. The alliance hailed the ITC vote as a decisive victory for domestic producers, said Tim Brightbill, senior counsel for the alliance. With the finding, the ITC did not reveal its determination on the so-called critical circumstances, Brightbill said. The alliance alleges that Thailand and Vietnam mounted a surge of US exports to circumvent preliminary duties that would be unveiled in the cases last fall, thus creating critical circumstances. A favorable ITC finding could retroactively apply duties to those imports up to 90 days before the preliminary findings. Brightbill said it expected the ITC to act soon on this front, but did not know when. In a press conference, Brightbill and Michael Carr, executive director of the American Solar Manufacturers Coalition, said the ITC vote represented an important milestone in a long campaign to offshore the U.S.-based solar industry. Its dual goal has been to establish and enforce limits on unfair trade practices and to promote and preserve stable tax incentives for new U.S. solar investments. The ITCs unanimous vote also effectively closes the latest in a 13-month series of cases the U.S. solar industry has mounted to curb what it considers improper commercial imports from Chinese companies. As Chinese manufacturers have shifted production assets from one region to another to avoid exposure to U.S. import duties, the domestic industry has, in effect, reoriented itself from one region to another to plug its leaks. The first antidumping and antisubsidy, or countervailing, duty cases focused on Chinese production in China. Others have focused on Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Now, industry rumors point to measures against imports from Indonesia and Laos. What is particularly distinctive about the current round of trade cases is that the Commerce Department has for the first time uncovered the existence of transnational subsidies, in these cases between the Chinese government and Chinese manufacturers operating in the four Southeast Asian countries. In April, the Department of Commerce requested the imposition of final antidumping duties of 125.37% and countervailing or antisubsidy duties of 3,403.96% on imports of cells and modules from Cambodia; antidumping duties of 81.24% and countervailing duties of 168.80% on imports of cells and modules from Malaysia; antidumping duties of 202.90% and countervailing duties of 799.55% on imports of cells and modules from Thailand; and antidumping duties of 271.28% and countervailing duties of 542.64% on imports of cells and modules from Vietnam. Since the Department outlined its preliminary duties in the current cases late last year, importers from Southeast Asian countries have been required to submit cash deposits or post bonds to reflect the estimated duty rates. Now that the ITC has issued its final decision, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin collecting final duties within a few weeks. |
