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Big stories about money and politics in the race for the White House
Joe Biden is set to impose tariffs on imports of bifacial solar panels, as the president moves to protect US clean energy producers and boost jobs ahead of November’s election.
US officials said the move would immediately end Trump-era duty exemptions for large-scale imports of the type of panels commonly used. sun project, one of the fastest growing forms of clean energy in the country. They will now be subject to a tax rate of 14.25%.
The higher tariffs mark the latest protectionist move by the president, who is competing with Republican rival Donald Trump to attract blue-collar voters in US manufacturing heartlands, with less than Election day is six months away. election.
On Tuesday, Biden sharply increase import taxes from China including electric vehicles and solar panels, increasing trade tensions with Beijing and pushing trade policy into the center of the election battle.
US officials have warned that China is producing more goods than its market can absorb, raising concerns that Beijing could use cheap exports to undercut manufacturers. exported in other countries.
Ali Zaidi, Biden’s climate adviser, said the US “investment boom” in solar energy is threatened by “unfair and non-market practices taking place abroad” .
“China’s solar panel overcapacity, now expected to double world demand, threatens to impair solar panel production and the supply chain,” Zaidi said. solar energy around the world”.
The announcement from the Biden administration comes as U.S. imports of low-cost solar panels and solar panels, largely from Southeast Asia, have soared to record highs. Overproduction of solar panels from China has led to a decline in global panel prices, threatening US production plans.
According to BloombergNEF, the US imported 55 gigawatts of panels and 3.8GW of solar cells in 2023, with more than three-quarters of imported batteries coming from Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam.
Besides the new tariffs on bifacial panels, the US also introduced some support measures for domestic developers still dependent on imported batteries – the unit that makes up the panels – by increasing the number of The amount that can be imported without tax increases from 5GW to 12.GW.
While a number of companies have announced their intentions to open solar panel factories since the passage of the Disinflation Reduction Act – intended to boost the domestic clean energy industry, among other goals – The United States does not have any active manufacturing capacity.
The relief applies to cells imported from Asian countries except China, where cell exports to the US face a 50% tariff under the new regime announced on Tuesday.
“We know that the process of transferring, making friends and frankly diversifying the supply chain is not a process that can be done overnight,” Zaidi said.
The quota increase will ensure manufacturers in the US will have solar cells available to them and will support the expansion of US solar production, he added.
US manufacturers including First Solar and Heliene have called on the US International Trade Commission to eliminate duty exemptions for bifacial panels.
However, the increase in solar panel quotas could anger major US manufacturers that make their own solar cells, including First Solar and Qcells, which have petitioned for anti-dumping duties. for solar cells in Southeast Asia.
