The United States has imposed new tariffs on solar products imported from four Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. These nations collectively supply a significant portion of solar panels to the U.S. market. Bloomberg reported that this decision, announced on April 21, followed a year-long trade investigation.
The investigation revealed that solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia were unfairly benefiting from government subsidies and exporting their products to the U.S. at prices below production costs. The U.S. Department of Commerce determined the dumping margins for solar products from these countries to be 125.37% for Cambodia, 271.28% for Vietnam, 111.45% for Thailand, and 8.59% for Malaysia. Many of the final subsidy rates were higher than the preliminary levels previously announced.
The tariff rates released on Monday vary by company and country, but they overall exceed the initial tariffs announced at the end of last year. For instance, the total anti-dumping and countervailing duties on products from Jinko Solar in Malaysia is the lowest at 41.56%. In contrast, tariffs on products manufactured by Trina Solar in Thailand reach as high as 375.19%. Neither Jinko Solar nor Trina Solar immediately responded to requests for comments.
In a notable development, due to non-cooperation from Cambodian producers during the U.S. investigation, solar products from Cambodia could face tariffs exceeding 3500%.
This inquiry was initiated last year by Hanwha Q CELLS from South Korea, First Solar based in Arizona, and several smaller manufacturers, aiming to protect their multi-billion dollar investments in the U.S. solar manufacturing sector. The American Solar Manufacturing Coalition has accused large Chinese solar panel manufacturers operating in these four countries of shipping solar cells at prices below production costs and receiving unfair subsidies, undermining the competitiveness of U.S. solar producers.
The new solar tariffs are seen as an extension of the broad tariff measures introduced by former President Trump, which have disrupted global supply chains and markets.
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