Solar energy companies are again urging the Commerce Department to reject a U.S. manufacturer’s request for tariffs on competing solar imports from Asia ahead of an expected preliminary determination in the case.
Some 240 companies, in a letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Wednesday, disputed the merits of the anticircumvention investigation Commerce is carrying out at the request of Auxin Solar, a U.S. solar module manufacturer. The companies also insisted an affirmative determination, meaning one concluding that imports from targeted countries are circumventing tariffs on China, would threaten the industry, which is integral to President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda.
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The companies argued that the solar imports in question are not merely pass-throughs from China but rather include enough substantial differences from Chinese products to clear easily the U.S. law meant to stop the circumvention of tariffs.
An affirmative finding would also “create new uncertainty for American solar businesses, stifle deployment, and limit American solar jobs,” they said.
The arguments put forth in the letter come ahead of the Dec. 1 statutory deadline for the department to make a preliminary determination. They add to the case solar interests have made all year long about the threats posed by new tariffs.
Auxin filed a petition with the department in February, claiming that Chinese companies operating in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia are circumventing existing duties on Chinese solar imports by effectively acting as pass-throughs for solar cell and module products that were substantially manufactured in China.
Industry groups disputed the petition and carried out a rigorous lobbying effort over the summer to persuade administration officials and lawmakers against new tariffs. The issue split Democratic members of Congress.
The lobbying effort had marked success. Back in June, Biden used executive trade law powers to declare an emergency and exempt Asian solar cell and module products from new tariffs for a two-year period.
The move effectively preempted new tariffs for a time to the praise of much of the solar industry, although it didn’t suspend the anticircumvention investigation.
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U.S. solar manufacturers supportive of the investigation and tariffs on imports from the Asian countries expressed anger over Biden’s decision for getting in front of the Commerce investigation.
