The US Commerce Department announced preliminary antidumping duties on solar cells and panels imported from India, Indonesia and Laos on Thursday, April 23, marking the latest set of tariffs imposed over a decade on solar imports from Asia.
In a fact sheet posted on the Commerce Department's website, the agency estimated preliminary duty rates, also known as dumping margins, which is around 123.04% for Indian imports, 35.17% for imports from Indonesia, and 22.46% for imports from Laos.
With the latest move, federal trade officials supported domestic solar factory owners in finding that companies operating in the three countries dumped cheap goods in the American market, Reuters reported.
Last year, these three countires accounted for $4.5 billion in US solar imports, nearly two-thirds of the total, according to government trade data.
The current development is a blow to producers from countries who were supplying goods to the fast-growing US market.
A petition on this issue was filed by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, which includes Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar Qcells, the solar division of Korea's Hanwha, and private companies Talon PV and Mission Solar.
"The preliminary determinations confirm that producers in these countries are dumping solar cells and modules into the U.S. market at unfairly low prices, undercutting American-made products and distorting market competition at a pivotal moment for the domestic manufacturing sector," the Alliance said in a statement.
It must be noted that this group had earlier succeeded in winning tariffs on imports from countries in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
The Commerce Department plans to announce a final decision on or around July 13 for solar cells from India and Indonesia, and a decision for imports from Laos by September 9. In February, the agency also announced preliminary countervailing duties on these three countries.
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