US Finalizes Steep Tariffs on Southeast Asian Solar Panels
Duties up to 3,500% target alleged Chinese circumvention through regional factories
The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized significant tariffs on solar panels imported from Southeast Asia, with some duties reaching as high as 3,500%. The trade action targets solar cells from Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, following allegations that Chinese manufacturers were using factories in these countries to circumvent existing trade restrictions. American manufacturers, including Korea's Hanwha Qcells and Arizona-based First Solar, initiated the case last year to protect their domestic investments against what they describe as unfairly priced imports.
The tariff rates vary considerably by company and country of origin. Products from Jinko Solar in Malaysia face relatively lower combined duties of 41.56%, while Trina Solar's products from Thailand could be subject to 375.19% tariffs. Cambodian solar products received the highest penalty at over 3,500%, largely because producers there declined to participate in the U.S. investigation. For these tariffs to take effect, the International Trade Commission must still vote in June on whether the domestic industry suffered material harm from these imports.
KEY POINTS
- •Tariffs up to 3,500% on SE Asian panels
- •Case targets Chinese circumvention
- •Solar industry divided on tariff impact
The tariff decision has already dramatically altered global solar trade patterns. Imports from the four targeted Southeast Asian nations, which previously supplied more than $10 billion worth of solar products to the U.S. market annually, have decreased significantly. Meanwhile, shipments from countries not subject to the investigation, such as Laos and Indonesia, have increased substantially as suppliers seek alternative manufacturing locations to serve the American market.
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