Petition Seeks to Uphold Trade Laws, and Safeguard Domestic Manufacturing Jobs, Investments
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) strongly supports yesterday’s filing of new antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. In response to market manipulation driven by companies in Indonesia, Laos, and India, the petitions were filed by The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade.
The United States’ tariff schedule maintains a ‘free’ (zero-rate) Normal Trade Relations duty on imports of solar-cell and solar-modules from all countries with the exception of Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, and Russia. To defend against subsidized and unfairly-traded imports from all other countries, U.S. solar manufacturers must take on the burden of litigating against unfair imports, or be destroyed in the process. Presidential trade remedies have limited the import penetration of panels and cells made-in-China, but many other countries are subsidizing more capacity than their domestic market can endure for the purpose of chasing exports.
Regrettably, the recently passed ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ failed to include policies that would have helped ensure American solar deployment was Made-in-America, and not by Chinese-owned companies. These new imports from Indonesia and Laos belong to Chinese-owned enterprises.
“As we have stated for some time, the Chinese Communist Party has no intention of playing by the rules – as they continue flooding the global market with subsidized, forced-labor-linked solar products to drive out American competition,” said Jon Toomey, President of CPA. “India, too, has set its sights on export dominance of solar and other industries. Today we’re proud to see these American solar manufacturers fighting back with new AD/CVD petitions.”
Yesterday’s petitions seek investigations into further illegal trade practices by mostly Chinese-owned manufacturers.
American solar manufacturers are seeking dumping margins as follows:
- Up to 245.79 – 249.09% for Laos
- Up to 213.96% for India
- Up to 89.65% for Indonesia
CPA advocates for a stronger industrial policy to counter global solar overcapacity and predatory practices.
A Horizon Advisory report titled “Sunburn”, released in September, exposed how Chinese companies were recipients of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits which allowed their global solar companies to continue their dominance of the domestic solar market.
CPA warned in February 2024 in the report titled “The Coming Solar Apocalypse” that the domestic solar was being threatened by global overcapacity, lower prices of solar goods that made it hard for U.S. based companies to break even.
China solar companies in Southeast Asia have been hit with numerous AD/CVD charges over the years.
America’s solar manufacturing sector can survive the recent drastic IRA tax credit cuts only if its home market is protected. Solar is the fastest, most readily available source of electric power to deploy. Natural gas fired turbines, the kind used to power natural gas electricity generators, are on backorder for years, according to S&P Global, making solar a winner for new power production.
CPA believes it is imperative for the U.S. to own the solar supply chain here at home as solar continues to be an important source of electric power generation. It’s clear that a global protective solution is needed to reshore and support the full value domestic manufacturing supply chain.
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