May 20 Could Open A Bigger Door For Indian Solar Exporters To US

On May 20, the International Trade Commission of the US (ITC) will give its final determination of tariffs to be applied on solar imports from South East Asia. The ITC has already made an in-principle  determination that imports from these markets are harming US producers. These enhanced tariffs will target Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, with proposed tariffs likely to create a significant opportunity for Indian manufacturers to export further to the US. Laos, another country which has seen a build of solar manufacturing targeting exports, seems to have escaped the net for now.

The final amounts of proposed tariffs released by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce for solar cells (whether or not assembled into modules) from the four countries are close to or higher than initial amounts, except for Cambodia which could see its CVD go up over 4X.

 

The investigation was initiated after the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee,  which claims to represent US manufacturing interests first filed the AD/CVD petition in April 2024. By September, an in-principle ruling had been made that there was indeed dumping happening into the US market from the four SE Asian countries, backed by Chinese firms. By November, preliminary AD amounts  were mandated .

The ITC after a nine-hour public hearing last week saw the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee pitted against developer backed trade associations  including American Clean Power Association (ACP) and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Clean Energy Associates  and some Chinese manufacturers including BYD. The latter organisations insist that penalising imports from SE Asia will harm solar growth in the US by making solar more expensive. Canadian Solar, Runergy, Trina Solar, which have their own module plants in the US also ranged against the duties, to ensure they could import solar cells made in SE Asia for their US plants.

They also argued primarily to make silicon cells and final panels not be considered  together as a single product, but as separate inputs. That would allow them (Canadian Solar, Runergy, Trina Solar), to import their own solar cells made in Southeast Asia without tariffs. But with the ITC citing previous precedent to consider the two as a single product, they faced an uphill battle.

The new regime from May 20 will provide an opportunity to Indian module makers with their own cell making facilities to target the US market more effectively .