The agency began its inquiry at the request of a U.S. panel manufacturer.
Solar Industry officials claim that a new tariff circumvention inquiry by the U.S. Department of Commerce will imperil the Biden administration’s clean energy and climate-change goals and result in the loss of nearly 70,000 U.S. solar industry jobs.
At issue is a request by Auxin Solar Inc., a U.S. solar panel manufacturer, for a Commerce Department inquiry into certain solar cells and modules assembled or completed in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand or Vietnam. Auxin alleges that solar modules assembled using parts and components manufactured in China and subsequently exported to the United States illegally circumvent U.S. trade tariffs imposed on solar cells and modules manufactured in China.
In 2008, Chinese-made solar cells accounted for only 22 percent of all solar cells imported into the United States….