Biden waives solar panel tariffs, invokes defense law (updated)

Clean Energy Technologies

06/06/2022 15:39

(Adds detail, reaction)
    By Jeff Mason
    WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden waived
tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations for
two years and invoked the Defense Production Act to spur solar
panel manufacturing at home, the White House said on Monday,
confirming a Reuters report.
    The tariff exemption applies to panels from Cambodia,
Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and will serve as a "bridge"
while U.S. manufacturing ramps up, the White House said.
    Shares in solar companies climbed after Reuters earlier
reported that Biden would issue a proclamation that ensured
panels accounting for some 80 percent of U.S. imports did not
face tariffs of as much as 250 percent, which could have been
levied retroactively as part of a Commerce Department probe.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2XT05B
    The move comes in response to concern about a freezing of
solar projects nationwide and the impact on the fight against
climate change from an investigation into whether solar panel
imports from the four countries were circumventing tariffs on
goods made in China.
    The White House said the Defense Production Act would also
be used to expand manufacturing of building insulation, heat
pumps, transformers, and equipment for "clean
electricity-generated fuels" such as electrolyzers and fuel
cells.
    "With a stronger clean energy arsenal, the United States can
be an even stronger partner to our allies, especially in the
face of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war in Ukraine,"
the White House said in a statement. 
    Heather Zichal, chief executive of the American Clean Power
Association, said Biden's announcement would "rejuvenate the
construction and domestic manufacturing of solar power by
restoring predictability and business certainty."
    The Commerce Department investigation - kicked off in
response to a complaint from a small solar panel provider, Auxin
- essentially halted the flow of solar panels that make up more
than half of U.S. supplies and 80 percent of imports. 
    Auxin's CEO, Mamun Rashid, criticized the White House move
as having "opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special
interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law."

 (Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Nichola
Groom; editing by John Stonestreet)
 ((jeff.mason@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 898 8300; On Twitter:
@jeffmason1))