On March 28th, the Department of Commerce initiated an inquiry that risks applying retroactive tariffs on a majority of solar component imports, creating uncertainty across the industry.
Auxin Solar, a single company representing less than 3% of the U.S. module market, is attempting – without the support of a single other domestic manufacturing company – to manipulate U.S. trade laws to gain a competitive advantage. Auxin has asked the Department of Commerce to apply cost-prohibitive tariffs of up to 250% on solar products imported from four allied trading partners in Southeast Asia – Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Eighty percent (80%) of imported solar panels are sourced from these four countries. These solar panels are vital to supporting the 230,000 American solar jobs that exist today, including tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs for other essential solar components.
Commerce has agreed to initiate a review of Auxin’s petition, and in past cases, it has typically taken 150 days or longer to issue a ruling despite having broad discretion to move faster. Merely initiating the investigation has frozen the domestic solar industry, and each passing day worsens the impacts on American workers and American households.
The potential tariffs that could be applied in this case could reasonably be as high as 250% and – importantly – would be retroactive back to April 1st, 2022. As a result, any solar panel imported between today and a ruling by Commerce carries a cost so astronomical that the manufacturers in the target countries have been forced to cease producing or importing solar panels destined for U.S. projects.
Secretary Raimondo rightfully declined to initiate a strikingly similar petition brought in 2021, further solidifying the point that this case is also not worthy of further investigation. The Secretary has broad discretion in her administration of these proceedings, including the ability to issue a negative ruling as soon as 45 days following the initiation of the inquiry.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has a path that is codified in the statute to stop a pointless process initiated over a phantom menace – and she can use those options in the coming weeks to breathe life back into an American solar industry whipsawed by her department’s actions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ordered emergency measures Monday to boost crucial supplies to U.S. solar manufacturers and declared a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels from Southeast Asia as he attempted to jumpstart progress toward his climate change-fighting goals.
In a state-by-state survey by a solar trade group, 84% of Florida solar companies surveyed reported cancellations or delays in their supply of solar panel parts.
Chief Executive Officer
American Clean Power Association
“Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo still has the power to recognize the petition for what it is — an effort at gaming the system — and issue a negative preliminary determination, becoming a champion for American solar energy production, the middle-class jobs those domestic energy investments create, and the planet we seek to preserve.”
The rest of America pays the price for the petitioner’s gain in the form of higher electricity bills during a time of high inflation, fewer middle-class clean energy jobs, furloughed jobs throughout the solar sector, greater dependence on foreign fossil fuels supplied by autocratic nations, and a more polluted planet. The Commerce Department rejected a similar petition last year and should follow its own precedent by moving swiftly to signal a negative preliminary determination on this petition.
The Commerce Department’s inquiry has left the U.S. solar industry without a clear understanding of the risk that developers face from the possibility of unpredictable retroactive tariffs. ACP found that the uncertainty of potential retroactive tariffs is forcing companies to delay or cancel over 24GW of projects and consider laying off 38,000 Americans – equivalent to more than a third of the entire utility-scale solar workforce.
