President Joe Biden will today waive tariffs for 24 months on solar panels made in Southeast Asia in response to a Department of Commerce (DOC) investigation that is destabilizing the US solar industry. <\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s action comes in response to a DOC probe into whether Southeast Asian solar cell manufacturers are using parts made in China that would normally be subject to a tariff. <\/p>\n
The US solar industry relies on solar module imports to meet growing demand. As Electrek<\/em> reported<\/a> on May 16:<\/p>\n The vast majority of the US solar industry asserts that the DOC investigation, which launched on April 1, will devastate solar businesses and want it to be dismissed. Most also don\u2019t think the investigation \u2013 the result of a petition filed by a single US solar crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell manufacturer who is incapable of supplying the entire US solar industry \u2013 should have been launched to begin with.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reuters also reported in an exclusive yesterday<\/a> that \u201cBiden also will invoke the Defense Production Act to drive US manufacturing of solar panels and other clean energy technologies in the future, with the support of loans and grants, the sources said.\u201d<\/p>\n The Biden administration is working to spur the rapid growth of domestic manufacturing of solar components, but does not want to interfere with the DOC inquiry.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s waiver will apply to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam\u00a0and run parallel to the investigation.<\/p>\n Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries\u00a0Association, said in a statement today<\/a>:<\/p>\n We applaud President Biden\u2019s thoughtful approach to addressing the current crisis of the paralyzed solar supply chain\u2026<\/p>\n While the Department of Commerce investigation will continue as required by statute, and we remain confident that a review of the facts will result in a negative determination, the president\u2019s action is a much-needed reprieve from this industry-crushing probe. During the two-year tariff suspension window, the US solar industry can return to rapid deployment while the Defense Production Act helps grow American solar\u00a0manufacturing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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