The Commerce Department this week announced plans to hike tariffs on solar panels from East Asia, alleging that panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are receiving Chinese subsidies.
Panels from Cambodia received the highest tariffs — as solar panels from that country would see duties at a rate of 652 percent on average — though some Cambodian companies could see tariffs hiked as high as 3,500 percent.
Vietnamese and Thai panels would be tariffed at an average of nearly 400 percent, while panels from Malaysia would see only 34 percent average tariffs.
Tariffs on foreign solar panels are something of a bipartisan issue — both Republicans and many Democrats hope to see U.S. companies gain an advantage over China.
“The Commerce Department is holding China accountable for its transnational subsidies through other countries that harm American industry. Market-distorting, unfair trade practices against America have no place to hide,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement.
However, critics of high solar tariffs note taxing imports could make solar more expensive to install — which ultimately could mean less energy on the grid and worse climate outcomes.
The plan comes from the International Trade Administration, but the tariffs cannot be imposed until a separate U.S. government body, the International Trade Commission, determines whether U.S. companies have been injured by imports from foreign countries. The commission will make that decision in June.
