Pro-Trade Democrats Ask That Solar Safeguards Exclude Canada
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., one of the House stalwarts for trade in the Democratic party, along with Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., another trade moderate, and fellow Washington delegation member and Democrat Sen. Patty Murray, are asking that Canadian solar modules be exempted from the solar safeguard tariff and that a more generous tariff rate quota on solar cells be implemented.
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Their June 9 letter notes that the International Trade Commission found in 2017 that Canadian imports were not a source of serious injury to domestic production, but the Trump administration ignored their recommendation that Canada be excluded from the safeguard. The three also say that a Canadian solar company plans a factory in their state that's slated to hire 92 people, but if the safeguard measures on its modules and cells were lifted, it would hire about 300 workers.
They said that increasing the TRQ for solar cells, according to the ITC, would likely lead to a substantial increase in U.S. solar panel production, since the TRQs allotments are lower than U.S. demand. "While we recognize the importance of U.S. trade remedies to respond to surging imports that seriously injure or threaten to seriously injure domestic industries, the targeted adjustments we call for in this letter would bolster the U.S. solar industry and create green jobs," they wrote, and would not contradict ITC findings.