Washington:
In its latest tariff salvo, the Trump administration in the United States has imposed new duties– as high as 3,521 per cent– on solar imports from Southeast Asian countries. The new tariffs announced on Monday came after a probe found that solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand were unfairly benefiting from subsidies from China and were dumping unfairly cheap products in the US market.
The new tariffs will be in addition to the 10 per cent baseline tariffs already imposed by US President Donald Trump that have upended global supply chains and markets.
New duties came after a yearlong investigation by the US Department of Commerce into claims by American producers that Chinese companies in those countries were dumping solar cells and panels in America at artificially low prices.
Several Chinese companies moved operations to Southeast Asia in recent years to avoid US tariffs imposed during President Donald Trump’s first term.
How Much Tariff Is Imposed
Tariffs on solar imports from Cambodia will be as high as 3,521 per cent. This is because the country decided to stop participating in the investigation, according to the Commerce Department.
Companies in Vietnam will, meanwhile, face levies as high as 395.9 per cent, while those in Thailand will face a 375.2 per cent tariff. Country-wide rates for Malaysia were set at 34.4 per cent.
America imported $12.9 billion in solar equipment last year from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, according to a Bloomberg report.
How Will New Tariffs Benefit the US
The new levies will benefit American manufacturers in capturing the US renewable power market that’s on shaky ground amid political and policy changes in Washington.
“This is a decisive victory for American manufacturing,” Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley’s international trade practice and lead counsel for the coalition of solar companies that pursued the case, told Bloomberg.
He said that the findings of the US probe confirm “what we’ve long known: that Chinese-headquartered solar companies have been cheating the system, undercutting US companies and costing American workers their livelihoods.”
The Biden administration started the investigation into the matter last year following a petition from the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, which represents companies including First Solar, Hanwha Q Cells and Mission Solar Energy LLC.
Trump Tariffs
So far, US President Trump has imposed tariffs as high as 145 per cent on imports from China. Other countries are facing a blanket 10 per cent US tariff until July.
The Trump administration last week said that when the new tariffs are added to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245 per cent.
China has retaliated with a 125 per cent tax on products from the US and vowed to “fight to the end”.
