Senator Asks Commerce to Narrowly Tailor Solar Panel Duty Pause
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged the commerce secretary to talk to First Solar, which is headquartered in his state, before finalizing the rule to temporarily waive duties or deposit collection on imported solar panels and cells from Southeast Asia. Auxin Solar, a small solar panel producer, is asking Commerce to find that those panels are really Chinese in origin, and should be subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders against Chinese solar products.
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The letter was released by Brown's office Aug. 9. First Solar chose not to submit comments to Commerce on the matter, but other panel makers with U.S. operations did. Two supported the waiver, as they import cells from those countries (see 2208090028); Auxin also submitted a lengthy comment arguing against the action.
Brown said "the tariff relief in question should be limited, circumscribed, and should only be for the purposes of providing relief to the current stalled solar projects," including requiring that importers describe the destination of the panels. He also wrote that "the proposed rule should make clear that the two-year tariff exemption cannot be used to enable the stockpiling of solar panels for use beyond the two-year period. Failure to do so would enable a tariff avoidance scheme by permitting an end run around U.S. law -- harming domestic manufacturers and making a mockery of our laws."