[ad_1]
Commerce probe of photo voltaic imports from Thailand, 3 different international locations poses risk to US tasks
A possible Commerce Division probe of photo voltaic imports from Southeast Asia has the potential to freeze funding in america, trade leaders warned on Tuesday.
The company is ready to resolve by Mar 25 whether or not to formally examine whether or not photo voltaic merchandise from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia circumvent longstanding photo voltaic tariffs. An investigation might expose the imports to retroactive duties of fifty% to 250%, the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation (SEIA) mentioned on Tuesday.
The 4 international locations provide about 80% of US photo voltaic imports and the chance of commerce restrictions might drag down shipments. The commerce dispute threatens to accentuate present headwinds for the US photo voltaic trade, which is already seeing slower progress amid increased prices, delivery delays and provide chain disruptions. That may be a problem to President Joe Biden’s efforts to quickly increase renewable energy tasks nationwide.
“It’s simply not a rational enterprise threat to place product on the water and ship it right here if you don’t know what it’s going to value when it will get right here,” mentioned Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s chief govt officer.
Commerce is responding to a petition from Auxin Photo voltaic, a small California-based producer. The important thing subject is whether or not Chinese language producers already topic to tariffs are circumventing these duties by assembling their merchandise within the 4 Southeast Asian nations.
About 13% of utility-scale photo voltaic capability scheduled for completion in 2022 has already been delayed by at the very least a yr or outright cancelled because of the increased prices, disruption and coverage uncertainty in Washington, SEIA has mentioned. Builders have warned the Biden administration that the Commerce Division choice would compound these challenges, and probably tens of hundreds of American jobs hold within the stability.
“Your entire photo voltaic trade is watching what the Commerce Division does,” Hopper mentioned. “It’s arduous to overstate what it will imply — simply the initiation of an investigation.”
[ad_2]
Source link