Solar energy projects enlist legal help amid trade disputes

Governments and campaigners agree that solar power must be scaled up if the world is to combat global warming. But that does not mean the industry is immune to knotty legal disputes.Although solar is now the fastest-growing energy source in the US, most of the cells needed to produce it are imported from abroad. As a result, the solar sector has been caught up in some of the biggest trade disagreements in recent years.Back in 2012, when US president Barack Obama first imposed solar tariffs on China, Canada and south-east Asian countries stepped in to fill the void. But Canada’s solar industry was soon caught in the middle of a US-Canada trade war — solar panels were one of many products, including aluminium and paper, that the US added to its tariff list.In 2018, this led to a political fight between the subsequent US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister…

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