April 22 (UPI) — The United States is set to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on solar panels imported via a small number of Southeast Asian nations.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced new tariffs targeted at companies in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam after a year-long investigation on allegations that Chinese subsidiary companies were flooding the American market with cheap goods.
Meanwhile, the International Trade Commission — a separate U.S. agency — is due to reach its final decision in June on new tariffs in a case brought on by U.S.-based solar panel makers like Arizona’s First Solar and Hanwha Qcells, a Korean company.
President Donald Trump has imposed a tax of up to 145% on Chinese imports with some countries facing a blanket 10% tariff until July.
Critics like the Washington-headquartered Solar Energy Industries Association trade group said tariffs will harm American solar manufacturers because tariffs would raise the price on imported cells assembled into solar panels in the United States.
Last week, the administration said that new tariffs on top of already existing tariffs could spike to 245%.
Chinese officials have countered with a sweeping 125% levy on American products in a vow to “fight to the end.”
Malaysian-based Chinese solar panel manufacturer Jink Solar saw the lowest U.S. tariff at 41% while Trina Solar, a Chinese-based company, faced 375% tariffs on its products made in Thailand.
However, Cambodian exporters face the highest duties at 3,521% because of what was perceived as a lack of cooperation with the U.S. probe.
Then-President Joe Biden initially declared a 24-month tariff exemption on solar panel products from the four countries in June 2022 as part of the invoking of the Defense Production Act in a move largely supported by environmentalists.
In August 2023, the Commerce Department made its final determination alleging that neighboring Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand had violated U.S. trade rules by utilizing Chinese-sourced materials without paying tariffs.
“This is a decisive victory for American manufacturing and confirms what we’ve long known: that Chinese-headquartered solar companies have been cheating the system,” Tim Brightbill, lead counsel to the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee which called on federal officials to launch its investigation, stated at the time.