US Crackdown on Solar-Tariff Dodgers Endangers Biden’s Green Ambitions
Commerce Department’s trade probe findings threaten to chill planned US solar panel projects.
Photovoltaic panels stand in a floating solar farm in the outskirts of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThe US government’s finding that some Chinese solar manufacturers are evading decade-old tariffs threatens to undermine efforts to fight climate change in the world’s biggest economy.
While President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law is already spurring a revival in domestic clean-energy manufacturing, the US remains heavily dependent on imported solar panels. And the preliminary trade probe finding released Friday by the Commerce Department could chill planned solar projects nationwide, by exposing imported panels from Southeast Asia to tariffs as high as 254% as soon as June 2024.