US finalises steep duties on solar imports from India, Indonesia, Laos

The US Commerce Department on Friday finalised steep duties on imports of solar cells and panels from India, Indonesia and Laos, finding that producers in those countries dumped cheap products in the United ‌States and benefited from unfair government subsidies.

The agency assigned anti-dumping margins of 123.04 per cent for Indian producers, 94.36 per cent for Indonesian producers and 65.43 per cent for producers from Laos.

The Commerce Department also set countervailing duty rates of 126.09 per cent for Indian producers, between 73.2 per cent and 173.7 per cent for Indonesian producers and between 82.03 per cent and 153.67 per cent for Lao producers.

The trade investigation was brought by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and ‌Trade, whose members include US solar manufacturers First Solar, Hanwha Qcells and Mission Solar Energy.

Friday's final determinations "are an essential step toward enforcing our trade laws and restoring fair competition for US solar manufacturers and the workers they employ," Tim Brightbill, lead attorney for the Alliance, said in a statement. "We will keep monitoring import data and holding bad actors accountable wherever they move next."

The ‌US International Trade Commission is scheduled to make a final determination on October 14 on whether the imports materially ‌injured or threatened to injure domestic manufacturers. If the commission votes affirmatively, ‌the Commerce Department is expected to issue final duty orders in November.

The case is the latest chapter in a ‌years-long trade dispute over solar imports. The United States first imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese solar products in 2012, prompting ‌manufacturers there to shift production to other Asian countries.