Back in January we put up a blog post on the US-China solar module trade dispute. The schedule of events has changed somewhat since the January posting. SolarWorld, a German-owned, module manufacturing company with operations in Oregon asked the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) to investigate the fairness of subsidies provided to Chinese manufacturers by the Chinese government. The complaint set in motion two types of investigations. The first is a countervailing duty investigation (CVD and the second is an anti-dumping (AD) investigation. On Tuesday, 3/20/12, the DOC levied tariffs on crystalline silicon modules produced in China of between 2.9 and 4.37 percent. On May 17th, the DOC is scheduled to issue a finding on the AD investigation. It’s possible that the AD ruling by the DOC will be for additional tariffs.
The CVD tariffs specifically discuss Suntech and Trina solar. With Trina modules receiving the highest tariff and Suntech modules a lower tariff than the rest of the solar products impacted by the ruling. Click here for an official DOC summary of its CVD ruling.
Click here for additional analysis of the ruling written by James Montgomery of Renewable Energy World, an online renewable energy forum.
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