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Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand imports at issue

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Most solar panels installed in the US are made overseas

Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. trade officials announced on

Friday a new round of tariffs on solar panel imports from four

Southeast Asian nations after American manufacturers complained

that companies there are flooding the market with unfairly cheap

goods.

It is the second of two preliminary decisions that President Joe

Biden's Commerce Department is making this year in a trade case

brought by Korea's Hanwha Qcells, Arizona-based

First Solar Inc ( FSLR ) and several smaller producers seeking

to protect billions of dollars in investments in U.S. solar

manufacturing.

The group, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing

Trade Committee, accused big Chinese solar panel makers with

factories in Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand of causing

global prices to collapse by dumping products into the market.

According to a preliminary decision posted on the U.S.

Commerce Department's website on Friday, the agency calculated

dumping duties of between 21.31% and 271.2%, depending on the

company, on solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and

Vietnam.

Jinko Solar received duties of 21.31% for

products made in Malaysia and 56.51% for those produced in

Vietnam.

China's Trina Solar received a dumping margin

of 77.85% for products it makes in Thailand and 54.46% for those

it produces in Vietnam.

In contrast, the Commerce Department did not lay out any

dumping margin for Hanwha Qcells products made in Malaysia. In

October, the department had calculated subsidy rate of 14.72%

for the company.

The department's final determinations are set for April 18,

2025, with the International Trade Administration set to

finalize its determinations the following June 2 and final

orders expected June 9.

"With these preliminary duties, we are moving closer to

addressing years of harmful unfair trade and protecting billions

of dollars of investment in new American solar manufacturing and

supply chains," said Tim Brightbill, partner at Wiley Rein and

lead counsel to the petitioners.

Representatives for Jinko and Trina were not immediately

available for comment.

Most solar panels installed in the United States are made

overseas, and some 80% of imports come from the four nations

targeted in the Commerce Department probe.

The Biden administration this year raised the alarm over China's

massive investment in factory capacity for clean energy goods.

Biden's landmark climate change law, the Inflation Reduction

Act, includes incentives for companies that produce clean energy

equipment in the United States - a subsidy that has prompted a

flurry of plans for new solar factories.

President-elect Donald Trump has called the Inflation Reduction

Act too expensive, but also has said he plans to slap hefty

tariffs on a range of sectors to protect American workers.

Dumping occurs when a company sells a product in the United

States at a price below its cost of production or lower than

what it charges in its home country.