Industry Leaders Testify to the Injury Caused to the U.S. Domestic Solar Manufacturing Sector by Illegal Market Practices
Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold its final public hearing to examine whether the domestic solar industry has been injured by unfair and illegal trade practices of Chinese-headquartered solar companies operating out of Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee originally filed antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations on April 24, 2024, alleging unfair practices that have caused immense volatility and cost uncertainty across the U.S. domestic solar market in recent years.
The public hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. ET and will feature testimony from stakeholders across the solar industry regarding the future of domestic manufacturing, market competitiveness, and the impact of global trade manipulation on U.S. jobs and innovation.
Watch the hearing on the International Trade Commission website, here.
Excerpts from prepared testimonies from members of the Alliance are below. Participants include Matt Card, Chief Operating Officer of Suniva; Sam Martens, President of Mission Solar Energy; Joseph Mendelson, Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations at Hanwha Qcells USA; Scott Moskowitz, Vice President of Market Strategy and Industry Affairs at Qcells; and, Adam Tesanovich, Co-founder and CEO of Talon PV Solar Solutions.
Matt Card, President and Chief Operation Officer, Suniva
“We believe that the actions by Chinese-owned companies within the 4 subject nations – Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, are harming and threatening our developing manufacturing sector. We join with every other manufacturer here today and ask that tariffs addressing these actions be implemented. This will address the needs of our sector and give manufacturers the level playing field they need to compete on the merits – and not against some artificially low price that is designed to mercilessly hunt and kill our domestic industry.”
Sam Martens, President of Mission Solar Energy
“At a time when we should be expanding, we are instead contracting. Instead of being able to utilize the potential of the new capacity we invested heavily in, we have been met at every turn with lost sales and missed opportunities due to high volumes of underpriced subject imports. As a result, scores of American workers who helped build Mission Solar from the ground up are losing their jobs even as U.S. demand booms for the products they make.”
Joe Mendelson, Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations at Hanwha Qcells USA
“Unfortunately, the oversupply cycle does not look temporary. Overcapacity typically leads to market correction and consolidation, but China alone currently has enough capacity to supply global demand two times over. Now these Chinese companies have moved to Southeast Asia to sidestep tariffs and continue the same unfair trade practices. New factories continue to be announced and built in these countries. Supply is not responding to demand. While demand is rising, global capacity is rising much faster.”
Adam Tesanovich, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Talon PV Solar Solutions
“Importers are selling solar cells and modules at prices so low, they do not even cover the cost of production. These largely Chinese-owned companies have led a race to the bottom – in fact, they’ve admitted it. This pricing is disastrous, including for the development of cell production. … Without relief from these extremely low-priced imports, we will be unable to develop domestic cell capacity. … The other side may tell you that there is a scalability issue for cell production. But that is not true. We already have plans in place to scale up production to 8GW of cells by 2028. It is not our lack of capabilities that would prevent scalability, but unfairly traded imports.”
Tim Brightbill, Lead Attorney for the Alliance
“The ITC investigations have collected substantial and detailed evidence of these four countries engaging in illegal dumping and subsidizing of solar cells and modules, which is harming American companies and workers. Because of the unfair trade practices of these largely Chinese-owned and headquartered companies, billions of dollars of unfairly priced solar products have crushed the U.S. market, causing prices in the U.S. to fall by more than 50% in the last year. Because the record evidence is so compelling, we urge the U.S. Department of Commerce to issue final determinations to restore fair trade for these products, and the ITC to make affirmative injury and threat determinations.”
What Comes Next
The Department of Commerce will issue its final determinations April 18, 2025, into the dumping and subsidization practices outlined in the Alliance’s petitions. These determinations will be made public on April 21, 2025. Final injury determinations by the ITC are expected in May of 2025. If the ITC affirms that the U.S. industry is materially injured or threatened by these imports, the Department of Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders, enforcing duties on imports from the four countries.
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The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee is a coalition of seven member and supporter companies calling for trade law enforcement against foreign entities engaging in illegal practices to protect jobs, ensure fair prices, and foster a strong American solar industry for generations to come. For more information visit: AmericanSolarTradeCmte.org.