U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday announced a series of actions to support domestic clean energy manufacturing, including authorizing tariff-free imports from select Southeast Asian countriessolar energyproduct for 24 months.
Solar developers across the U.S. will be able to source duty-free solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam within 24 months, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Commerce.Photovoltaic modulesandBattery. This is to ensure there is sufficient equipment supply to meet power generation needs while domestic manufacturing scales up, adding that the U.S. is on track to increase its solar manufacturing capacity from 7.5 GW today to 22.5 GW by 2024.
The tariff-free window follows an investigation launched by the U.S. Commerce Department in late March at the request of U.S. solar manufacturer Auxin Solar Inc to identify solar imports from the four countries. Whether tariffs on Chinese cells and components have been circumvented. The move directly paralyzed the country’s solar supply chain.
“The Department of Commerce’s anti-circumvention process continues uninterrupted, and once this short-term emergency period ends, any conclusions the Department of Commerce draws at the conclusion of its investigation will apply. According to the President’s statement, during the state of emergency, from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and imported from vietnamSolar batteryOr modules will not be subject to new anti-dumping or countervailing duties, and existing tariffs on solar cells and modules imported from China and Taiwan remain in effect. “
mixed reviews
In a statement ahead of the White House’s latest announcement, Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper applauded President Biden’s actions.
“While the Commerce Department will continue to investigate as required by regulation, and we remain confident that a review of the facts will lead to a negative decision, the president’s action is a ‘probation’ for this undermining industry investigation,” Hopper said.
At the same time, President Biden also authorized the Department of Energy to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to rapidly develop domestic manufacturing of five key clean energy technologies, namelysolar panelcomponents; building insulation; heat pumps; clean fuel equipment, including electrolyzers andThe fuel cell; and critical grid infrastructure such as transformers.
“Today’s action protects existing solar jobs, will increase solar industry employment opportunities, and foster a strong solar manufacturing base in the country,” the SEIC chief further commented.
But President Biden’s efforts to defuse a complex trade dispute that has crippled the U.S. solar industry are drawing swift criticism from some companies the White House has been seeking to appease.
U.S.-based manufacturers, in particular, slammed Biden’s move, saying it supports Chinese solar companies more than U.S. rivals.
Bloomberg quoted Mamun Rashid, CEO of Auxin Solar, as saying the president’s move was “unprecedented and potentially illegal.”
Editor: Wu Ying Source: Cable Network
Original title: Biden takes action to ease US solar supply chain domestically mixed