The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
View this email in your browser
<[link removed]>
Â
DECEMBER
**2, 2022**
Dayen on TAP
Chinese Solar Manufacturers Cheated to Avoid Duties, Government
Investigation Finds
A Commerce Department investigation found that Chinese companies shipped
solar panels through Southeast Asian countries to circumvent U.S. trade
law.
Preliminary findings from a Commerce Department investigation into trade
violations in the solar industry show that four companies based in
Southeast Asia have circumvented decade-old anti-dumping and
countervailing duties, by serving as a transshipment point for imports
of Chinese solar components.
The investigation was a source of controversy
<[link removed]>,
as large solar installers in the U.S. claimed it was leading to delays
in projects. The main solar trade group driving the controversy, the
Solar Energy Industries Association, counts as members the parent
companies of the firms that Commerce has found to be circumventing
duties and violating U.S. trade law: BYD
<[link removed]>, Canadian Solar
<[link removed]>, Trina Solar
<[link removed]>, and LONGi Solar
<[link removed]>.
Duties on solar imports from China have been imposed since 2012, a
result of the fact that China gave illegal subsidies to its
manufacturers and dumped cheap solar panels on world markets to gather
market share.
Auxin Solar, a U.S. manufacturer, charged that Chinese companies routed
solar components through companies in Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and
Vietnam, countries which are not subject to the duties, in an attempt to
pretend that the products originated from there. Solar component imports
from these four countries spiked after the duties were imposed on China
a decade ago, accounting for "82 percent of the most popular type of
solar modules used in the United States," as The New York Times reported
<[link removed]>.
This triggered the Commerce Department investigation, a quasi-judicial
process that took months and involved thousands of pages of documents.
Of the eight companies studied, two in each of the four countries, four
of them were found to be circumventing: BYD in Cambodia, Canadian Solar
and Trina Solar in Thailand, and Vina, a subsidiary of LONGi, in
Vietnam. Hanwha and Jinko Solar in Malaysia were found to not be
circumventing, along with New East Solar in Cambodia and Boviet Solar in
Vietnam. Other manufacturers were found to be circumventing in all of
the countries.
The preliminary findings will be subject to an audit, with teams of
investigators visiting the companies involved. There will be a hearing
and a period of public comment before the final determination on May 1,
2023.
If the preliminary findings hold, companies found to have circumvented
will be subject to the duties of their Chinese supplier. Currently, the
parent company of Canadian Solar has a 15.87 percent duty, BYD has 26.7
percent, and Trina and LONGi are at 254 percent, because those companies
have not demonstrated any separation from the Chinese government.
Those companies that can certify their supplier does not come from China
will not be subject to any duties.
Because of a presidential proclamation
<[link removed]>
in June of this year, importers subject to the duty will have until June
2024 before having to pay anything. As a senior administration official
explained on a press call, that gives U.S. solar installers 18 months to
find a supplier that complies with U.S. trade law.
While Auxin Solar was condemned by solar installers, even as a front for
the Koch brothers and oil interests, it turns out they were correct (at
least from the preliminary finding) in alleging that they couldn't
compete on a level playing field with foreign solar companies that were
violating the law. Between this finding and the Inflation Reduction
Act's benefits for domestic manufacturing, a homegrown solar
manufacturing industry should get a boost.
More important, dominance in solar manufacturing from a single country,
which would amount to substituting a cartel-like structure in clean
energy for a cartel-like structure in dirty energy, could be waning. The
findings, the senior official said, create the opportunity to build a
more resilient solar supply chain.
~ DAVID DAYEN
Follow David Dayen on Twitter <[link removed]>
[link removed]
Can Young Georgians Give Democrats Their 51st Senator?
<[link removed]>
Georgia youths are surging to the polls and could play a decisive role
in the December 6 runoff election. BY GABRIELLE GURLEY
Sen. Gillibrand Hires Former Crypto Lawyer
<[link removed]>
Dorothy DeWitt, who was general counsel at Coinbase, is the New York
senator's new chief counsel for finance. BY JAROD FACUNDO
The Rail Impasse: Your Questions Answered
<[link removed]>
This is about Wall Street demands for giant profits. Bad labor law gives
Democrats few options, but there remain steps that President Biden can
take. BY HAROLD MEYERSON
Altercation: Here's What's Really Behind the News
<[link removed]>
Some serious scholarship (and some Springsteen and Sinatra) BY ERIC
ALTERMAN
Â
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
<[link removed]>
The American Prospect, Inc.
1225 I Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States
Copyright (c) 2022 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
<[link removed]>.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
<[link removed]>.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
<[link removed]>.
