US ITC upholds case for tariffs on Southeast Asia PV imports

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Friday voted to proceed with the investigations into whether imports of solar products made in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam harm US manufacturing.

The US government agency has determined that there is “a reasonable indication” that local solar manufacturing is materially injured by imports of lower-priced crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules imported from the four Asian countries. The production of the hardware is allegedly subsidised by the respective governments, leading to sales in the US at less than the products' fair value, the ITC said.

Based on the ITC’s affirmative determination on the Asian imports’ negative impact on the US solar manufacturing industry, the Department of Commerce will set the level of duties to be imposed. A decision for preliminary countervailing duties is set to be released on or about July 18, 2024, while preliminary antidumping duty determinations will be available on or about October 1, 2024.

The investigations were launched in April after major US solar manufacturers filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against Chinese-owned solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, aiming to shield domestic production from the flood of imported equipment.

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