The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday issued a preliminary determination that solar cells and panels imported from India, Indonesia and Laos were being dumped into the American market, undercutting domestic factory output. Federal trade officials calculated provisional antidumping duty rates of 123.04% for imports from India, 35.17% for imports from Indonesia, and 22.46% for imports from Laos, according to a department fact sheet.
Those measures apply specifically to solar cells and modules originating in the three named countries. The department said its initial finding sided with domestic solar factory owners who alleged that foreign producers sold goods at unfairly low prices in the United States.
Government trade data cited in the department material show that the three nations together accounted for $4.5 billion of U.S. solar imports in the previous year, representing about two-thirds of total U.S. solar import volumes. The Commerce Department described the move as the latest in a succession of tariffs imposed over the past decade on solar imports from Asia.
The petition that triggered the antidumping investigation was filed by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade. The alliance includes companies such as First Solar, Qcells - the solar division of Hanwha, and private firms Talon PV and Mission Solar. The group represents domestic manufacturers that sought relief through trade remedies.
The department’s preliminary duty rates are not final. They precede a conclusive ruling on antidumping duties, and will stand as the agency’s provisional measures while the process continues toward a final determination. The announced rates will affect shipments of solar cells and modules from India, Indonesia and Laos to the United States during the interim.
Contextual note: The decision is characterized in the department’s statement as a setback for producers in the three exporting countries that had been supplying product to the growing U.S. market. The preliminary finding and assigned duty levels mark a regulatory step that could alter trade flows for solar components while the Commerce Department completes its final review.