When you assume a 25% tariff is unhealthy, what a couple of tariff that goes previous 3,500%?
On Monday, the U.S. Division of Commerce slapped excessive tariffs on photo voltaic panels and their associated merchandise coming from 4 Southeast Asia nations, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, accusing producers there of dumping merchandise on the U.S. market. The announcement ends a yearlong commerce probe initiated below the Biden administration.
Tariff ranges diverse wildly between totally different nations and producers. Photo voltaic cells made in Malaysia by Korean firm Hanwha solely bought a tariff of 14.64%, the bottom imposed.
In distinction, 4 producers in Cambodia—Hounen Photo voltaic, Jinktek Photovoltaic, ISC Cambodia and Photo voltaic Lengthy PV Tech—bought tariffs of 3521.14%. The Southeast Asian nation stopped cooperating with the U.S. probe, resulting in such excessive penalties.
The U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee will make a last willpower on tariff charges on June 2.
U.S. photo voltaic producers, in addition to international firms that invested in U.S. based mostly manufacturing, lobbied for anti-dumping tariffs on Southeast Asian producers, accusing them of pricing their merchandise beneath manufacturing price. The American Alliance for Photo voltaic Manufacturing Commerce Committee additionally argued that Southeast Asian firms obtained an unfair stage of subsidies, making the U.S.-made photo voltaic panels uncompetitive.
Chinese language-owned photo voltaic manufacturing amenities have popped up throughout Southeast Asia as firms sought to navigate U.S.-China commerce frictions.
Whereas Cambodia continues to be primarily an agrarian financial system, photo voltaic panels had been the Southeast Asian nation’s high export to the U.S. final yr, in accordance to knowledge from the consultancy Oxford Economics.
In whole, the U.S. imported $12.9 billion price of photo voltaic tools from the 4 nations focused by Monday’s tariffs, representing about 77% of module imports in accordance to Bloomberg knowledge.
In a press release on Monday, the Alliance referred to as the Commerce Division’s last tariff advice a “decisive victory” for American manufacturing.
“Enforcing our trade laws isn’t just a legal matter—it’s essential to rebuilding our industrial base, securing our energy independence and protecting American jobs,” Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley’s Worldwide Commerce Apply and lead counsel to the group, mentioned in a press release.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
