Solar Power World: Commerce to tariff solar imports from Southeast Asia, some by as much as 300%

The Dept. of Commerce today released its preliminary affirmative determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) case relating to solar cell imports from Southeast Asia. After an affirmative determination from the U.S. International Trade Commission in June that the U.S. solar panel manufacturing industry is being materially injured by imports of silicon solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, Commerce has been working on the tariff amounts to apply.

The preliminary CVD amounts range from less than 1% to nearly 300%, and tariff rates are expected to increase further at the time of the final determinations, said Tim Brightbill, partner at Wiley Rein and lead counsel to The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee (AASMTC), which filed the AD/CVD petition earlier this year. The DOC’s preliminary determination in the antidumping (AD) case will likely come in November.