PV Magazine – Biden to Maintain Solar Tariff Pause with a veto

President Joe Biden is expected to veto a move by Congress to lift a two-year pause on tariffs for goods shipped from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, which are responsible for roughly 80% of the U.S. supply of solar components.

“The Administration strongly opposes H.J. Res. 39, which would disapprove a rule issued by the Department of Commerce (Commerce) that temporarily suspends the collection of certain duties on imports of solar cells and modules,” said the White House in a press release.

The four Southeast Asian countries were allegedly harboring tariff-dodging products from China, which under antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws could lead to tariffs that range between 50% to 250% of the cost of shipped goods.

This looming threat of tariffs created an untenable level of risk that cascaded into cancelled and delayed projects. The effect was so stark that it led the Solar Energy Industries Association to cut its project deployment forecast in half for the year.

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