The U.S. Commerce Division yesterday introduced the imposition of preliminary duties on the imports of photo voltaic cells and panels from 4 Southeast Asian nations, in a victory for home panel makers who declare that low-cost imports are undermining their operations.

Again in Might, the Commerce Division introduced that it was initiating antidumping and countervailing obligation investigations of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The probe got here a month after the American Alliance filed a commerce case for the Photo voltaic Manufacturing Commerce Committee, which brings collectively seven main photo voltaic producers, together with South Korea’s Hanwha Qcells USA Inc., Switzerland’s Meyer Burger, Norway’s REC Silicon, and the U.S. corporations First Photo voltaic Inc. and Mission Photo voltaic Power LLC.

The Committee argued that Chinese language corporations with factories within the 4 nations have benefitted from unfair Chinese language authorities subsidies, and flooded the U.S. market with panels priced under the price of manufacturing. This has induced costs to crash by greater than 50 p.c, threatening their hefty investments in U.S. photo voltaic manufacturing. It requested the Biden’s administration to impose tariffs on panels and cells from the 4 nations.

In August, the Commerce Division decided that photo voltaic cells and modules produced in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam utilizing parts from China, after which exported to the USA, had been circumventing its current antidumping and countervailing obligation orders on photo voltaic cells from China.

In yesterday’s ruling, the Commerce Division mentioned that anti-subsidy countervailing duties will henceforth be utilized to all photo voltaic imports from the 4 Southeast Asian nations, which collectively made up round 80 p.c of U.S. imports in 2023 in greenback phrases, in accordance with Reuters.

Commerce has set preliminary common charges at 8.25 p.c for Cambodia; 9.13 p.c for Malaysia; 23.06 p.c for Thailand; and a pair of.85 p.c for Vietnam. It has additionally decided completely different charges for particular corporations. For a lot of imports from Thailand and Vietnam, charges will apply retroactively, going again 90 days to early July. That is the product of a separate grievance from the Committee, which argued that PV cell exports from Vietnam and Thailand surged after reviews in regards to the commerce investigation started circulating in the midst of the yr.

In response to Reuters, the charges set by Commerce are decrease than many anticipated, although they might rise when the Commerce Division points its closing order, which is anticipated in April. Tim Brightbill, an legal professional with Wiley Rein in Washington, advised reporters that “among the margins undoubtedly don’t but replicate the complete extent of presidency subsidies which can be occurring within the business,” and mentioned that Commerce might enhance the duties in its closing resolution.

Yesterday’s announcement can be the primary of two preliminary selections anticipated this yr within the case. The second, involving the Committee’s claims that photo voltaic imports from the focused nations are being dumped on the U.S. market at costs under the price of manufacturing, can be introduced subsequent month.

The Commerce Division’s resolution displays the way through which Chinese language corporations have responded to U.S. tariffs and duties by shifting manufacturing to 3rd nations the place such measures are usually not in place. Given the extent to which Southeast Asian provide chains are tied up with these originating in China, this augurs the imposition of extra duties on the area as Washington seeks to hamstring Chinese language producers and shield its personal markets.

Nonetheless, the present protectionist measures might have unintended penalties, particularly on U.S. corporations that depend on low-cost photo voltaic imports. It additionally has the potential to constrain the U.S.’s capability to speed up its inexperienced vitality transition. In response to Bloomberg, the case “has drawn opposition from some overseas producers and home renewable energy builders who argue tariffs might give an unfair benefit to bigger incumbent U.S. producers whereas elevating the price of solar energy tasks.”