U.S. Slaps High Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels

[alp227]

Source: NYT

The United States Commerce Department announced on Thursday the imposition of anti-dumping tariffs of more than 31 percent on solar panels from China, a decision certain to infuriate Chinese officials already upset after recent bilateral frictions over China’s human rights policies and its increasingly confrontational approach towards American allies like the Philippines and Japan.

The anti-dumping decision is one of the largest in American history, covering one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of imports from China, the world’s largest exporter. The department said the United States bought $3.1 billion worth of Chinese solar cells last year, giving China more than half the American market for the devices.

Chinese officials have been indignant at American criticism of their solar power industry, pointing out that the United States has urged China for years to embrace renewable energy as a way to reduce air pollution, combat climate change and limit the need for oil imports from politically volatile countries in the Mideast. Government support for solar energy is an important feature of China’s current Five-Year Plan, which runs through 2015, although Premier Wen Jiabao publicly cautioned in March that he was becoming concerned about overcapacity in the sector.

The Chinese solar panel industry threatened in November that if the United States puts heavy tariffs on Chinese exports, then the Chinese industry would file a trade case at the Chinese commerce ministry against American exports of polysilicon. Produced mainly in Tennessee and Washington state, where hydroelectric dams produce cheap electricity, polysilicon is the main ingredient in solar panels.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/business/energy-environment/us-slaps-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-panels.html?pagewanted=all

[bluesbassman]

1. A little too late to help Solyndra unfortunately. n/t

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. It's about time. Raise ALL tariffs on imported goods.

That will definitely bring back jobs to the US.

[xtraxritical]

3. How about subsidies for American solar panel producers instead of "big oil"?

[TheWraith]

18. The US subsidizes renewable energy to the tune of $15 billion per year. nt

[Vincardog]

4. A move to protect OIL? Suprise suprise suprise.

[alp227]

17. How so?

[Vincardog]

22. Tariffs to protect the energy companies from all that CLEAN competition.

You notice or government does nothing to protect US workers from Chinese slave wage competition.

[IamK]

5. tariffs just raise prices to consumers due to less compettion.... n/t

[FogerRox]

8. Tariffs just... JUST? . . . .. . . J U S T ?

Gimme a break.....

[Ikonoklast]

10. Dumping products below cost of production in foreign markets does, too.

It eliminates your competition, after which you can raise prices to just below the painful level.

China does *not* practice fair trade in anything; they are in it to eliminate every competitor.

[marble falls]

6. A move keep further Solyndras from happenning. The Chinese subsidise their solar tech forms, we ....

export our jobs and dollars. Its about time. What took so long? The Chinese are building solar panels and we subsidize a profitable and ultimately zero sum energy industry: big oil. Big oil hates this tariff. At some point they will figure out how to speculate profitably from solar and then who do you think they want want to buy solar panels from: cheap China or a viable US market???? Specially with "buy US requirements".

[SkatmanRoth]

7. China needs to clean up the Silicon TetraChloride it dumps into the Earth

I see nothing wrong with slapping them with an Environmental Tariff until they meet the same standards that companies in the United States have to meet.

We enjoy our Chinese toys while they ignore any and all pollution standards to keep costs low. The low costs are temporary as we all live on the same planet.

[cheapdate]

12. Exactly. It's called a level playing field.

[FogerRox]

9. WE did what? Hoo rah USA - WOOT WOOT ! ! !

KnR

[truthisfreedom]

11. NanoSolar will be happy. Solar City will not.

Oh well.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

13. Praise Jesus, and Thank You, Mr. President!

To those folks "frowning" when they hear this wonderful news?

F*ck you.

[magic59]

14. To little, too late

Our industry has already been decimated.

[NickB79]

15. In the short-term, this will help US solar makers. In the long-term, it worsens global warming

By imposing tariffs, it will have the effect of making solar panels more expensive to install in the US, possibly slowing their deployment. As it is, fracking has made natural gas so cheap in the US that renewables are already struggling against cheap natural-gas fired turbines.

While there are many environmental issues associated with Chinese solar panel manufacturing, they pale in comparison to the damage global warming will do. We need to be doing all we can to speed up the installation of wind and solar, not slow it. This is a short-sighted move on the part of the Obama administration, and will ultimately do more harm than good.

[Fearless]

16. Good... now for the rest of Chinese goods!

Can't wait around for gas prices to do it for us. Bring manufacturing and GOOD manufacturing jobs back to the US!

[JayhawkSD]

19. Trade wars don't help anyone in the long run.

Even Paul Krugman will agree on that issue.

And our skirts are not all that clean. We subsidize our agriculture industry, called "farm subsidies," so that NAFTA utterly destroyed Mexican farmers.

[4th law of robotics]

23. I read somewhere that the Chinese employ some pretty hefty tariffs themselves

to protect their businesses from competition.

As long as they are putting tariffs on American goods I really don't see an issue with reciprocating.


/I could be wrong though, this isn't my area of expertise.

[Left Coast2020]

20. Well, I guess its a step in the right direction.

I question the notion that its too late, but its better than doing nothing.


(Reuters) - The United States hit Chinese solar companies with punitive import tariffs of 30 percent or more on Thursday, ruling they had dumped cut-price solar panels into the U.S. market.

In the latest salvo in a series of ongoing trade disputes between Beijing and Washington, the U.S. Commerce Department said it sided with U.S.-based solar companies that had complained a wave of Chinese imports had wrongly undercut their pricing and forced several renewable players out of business.

With Thursday's move, Washington set tariffs on shipments from most of the top Chinese exporters, including Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and Trina Solar Ltd, at about 31 percent.

Several of the Chinese companies and a solar trade group opposed to the tariffs denounced the duties, and said they would drive up costs for the clean energy source, stunting its fast growth.

The new tariff was "a heavy blow to America's solar industry," Jigar Shah, head of the anti-tariff Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, said.

Shah said he hoped the tariffs would be reduced before they are finalized later this year, since they would likely cost thousands of jobs in the nascent industry.

The new U.S. ruling stems from a complaint filed last October by the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's SolarWorld AG, and six other U.S. companies that alleged unfair competition and had sought duties well above 100 percent.

(Yahoo News)

[hmmy786]

21. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)