U.S. Slaps Duties On Chinese Solar Panels

The U.S. imposed new import duties on solar panels and other related products from China last week after the Commerce Department found that they were manufactured with the aid of Chinese government subsidies. The tariffs range from 18.56 to 35.21% and will be levied both on solar panels and the cells used to make them. Although Commerce’s ruling is preliminary, the decision means that the U.S. will begin collecting the duties in advance of the final determination in October. China is the world’s dominant maker of solar panels. SolarWorld Industries America and other U.S. manufacturers have charged that government subsidies have helped Chinese manufacturers flood the U.S. market with cheap goods. They have argued that higher tariffs would ensure a level playing field. “We look forward to the end of illegal Chinese government intervention in the U.S. solar market,” says Mukesh Dulani, president of the U.S. subsidiary of Germany’s SolarWorld AG. In 2012, Commerce made a similar ruling in SolarWorld’s favor and assigned smaller duties on imports of Chinese solar photovoltaic cells.