U.S. President Joe Biden’s two-year freeze on solar import tariffs is designed to create a supply bridge as the U.S. increases its domestic generation capacity.
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to repeal a two-year freeze on tariffs on solar energy imports from four Southeast Asian countries that account for about 80 percent of the U.S. solar panel supply chain.
The moratorium on tariffsPresident Joe Biden approved in June 2022, suspending tariffs on goods shipped from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. Tariffs for goods in violation of anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws would be 50 to 250 percent of their shipment value.
The tariff exemption applies to modules imported before June 6, 2024, or modules installed at project sites before December 2024. Biden’s two-year moratorium is intended to act as a supply bridge, while the U.S. domestic solar electricity production is increasing.
Solar industry trade groups and major developers have strongly opposed lifting the moratorium.
“The bill will impose $1 billion in retroactive tariffs and cause the loss of 30,000 Americans this year,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Ross Hopper added that the US does not have enough production to meet demand and the remaining 14 months of the moratorium are needed to “close the gap”.
The law was got kicked out a small bipartisan group in January through a congressional review bill.
“We cannot allow foreign solar manufacturers to flout trade laws, especially when it comes at the expense of American workers and businesses,” said Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Michigan). “The Biden administration found in its own investigation that China is evading tariffs on U.S. solar imports, but has suspended action on this matter, which is unacceptable.”
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