For Solar Panel Industry, a Volley of Trade Cases

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The New York Times
Friday, October 12, 2012

For Solar Panel Industry, a Volley of Trade Cases

By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG — The solar panel manufacturing industry in the United States and Europe has begun a volley of trade cases against imports, following the same track as the steel industry before it — and for many of the same reasons.

“Back in the ’60s and ’70s, all over the world, governments were investing in steel mills,” said Nicholas Tolerico, a retired American trade official and steel executive. “These days, they invest in solar panels, and you end up with the same overcapacity and cutthroat pricing.”

The Commerce Department issued a final ruling Wednesday that would impose tariffs of 24 to 36 percent on solar panels imported from China. The department concluded, despite China’s denials, that manufacturers had received government subsidies and had “dumped” solar panels on the United States market for less than it cost to manufacture and ship them.

Solar panel manufacturers in the United States are now lobbying the Obama administration to broaden the tariffs to include solar panels made partly in China and partly in other places, notably Taiwan. And the American industry is not ruling out more trade cases against other Asian solar panel exporters.

In Brussels, the European Union has started a trade investigation into solar panel imports from China, a case covering imports worth $26.5 billion last year. And the European industry is seeking a second case against Chinese solar panel exports, accusing them of benefiting from government subsidies.

Shen Danyang, a spokesman for China’s commerce ministry, said in a statement on Thursday that the United States had disregarded “the reasonable defense of the Chinese government and Chinese enterprises,” and he expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the Commerce Department’s decision.

He also said that the American decision to put import tariffs on a category of renewable energy imports was harmful to global efforts to address climate change. And he warned that the American action was likely to result in reduced Chinese imports of raw materials and factory equipment for the solar panel industry.

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