WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today applauded congressional letters to the Biden administration supporting a trade case filed by seven major U.S. solar manufacturers to investigate potentially illegal trade practices by Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam because they are aiding and abetting Chinese solar company trade predation and injuring the U.S. solar industry.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) led a letter calling on the Biden administration to investigate China’s illegal trade activity.
“It’s clear that China illegally subsidizes its solar industry to deliberately undermine American manufacturers,” the letter stated. “Holding China accountable for its illegal trade practices will allow for the growth of a more diverse, and more secure, solar supply chain, here in the United States.”
Brown is joined by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Bob Casey (D-PA) John Fetterman (D-PA) Joe Manchin (I-WV), Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Jon Tester (D-MT) in the Senate. U.S. Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Jared Golden (D-ME) are among the signatories from the House.
U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney (R-NY) also led a letter to the Biden administration. Tenney was joined by U.S. Representatives Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Tom Kean, Jr. (D-NJ), Carol Miller (R-WV), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D.
“The Biden administration’s unprecedented two-year tariff moratorium on enforcing antidumping and countervailing duty laws has been disastrous and directly resulted in Chinese solar manufacturers with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dumping product in the United States without consequence for years,” the letter stated. “This has denied solar manufacturing workers across our country the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. We urge you to carefully review the Alliance’s petition and act swiftly to address China’s blatant trade abuses that continue to harm America’s solar manufacturing workers.”
The solar trade case comes on the heels of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent remarks that “China’s overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers.” Chinese-owned companies’ global market share in solar products is more than 80 percent. The current environment, if left unaddressed, threatens America’s ambitions of building a domestic solar manufacturing supply chain and mitigating the risk of an overreliance on Chinese solar.
“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle recognize how China’s predatory trade activity is harming American solar manufacturers and workers,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “On behalf of our member companies that are committed to producing and investing in America, we strongly support this trade case to combat China’s illegal, predatory activity that directly harms our economy. The evidence is clear, and we strongly urge the Biden administration to investigate China’s illegal trade activity and take action to neutralize it.”
Last month, CPA applauded a range of new actions by the Biden administration to strengthen the U.S. solar manufacturing industry and counter China’s illegal, predatory trade activity designed to undermine American producers and workers. These important actions include removing the bifacial exclusion under the Section 201 solar safeguard tariffs, a move that CPA has long-called for, and a commitment that the Biden administration’s harmful solar tariff moratorium will not be extended.
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