US legislators propose to abolish the tariff exemption of PV modules imported from Southeast Asian countries

US legislators propose to abolish the tariff exemption of PV modules imported from Southeast Asian countries

U.S. President Joe Biden announced seven months ago that photovoltaic modules imported from four countries in Southeast Asia would be exempted from tariffs for two years, but a group of U.S. bipartisan legislators is currently trying to repeal this administrative order of tariff exemption.

It is reported that the United States House of Representatives has passed an opposition resolution calling for the revocation of the executive order suspending the imposition of tariffs on imported photovoltaic modules. It is expected that this resolution will be supported by members of both parties in the United States.

Last year, the US Department of Commerce launched an investigation into PV modules imported by the United States from four countries in Southeast Asia. Previously, according to a complaint from a California-based PV module manufacturer, PV modules produced by these countries tried to evade the anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by the United States.

This resolution was put forward by Dan Kilde, a Democratic member of Congress, and five other members of the House of Representatives, aiming to hold foreign photovoltaic manufacturers responsible for violating the United States trade law. According to the Congressional Review Act, this resolution allows the United States Congress to overturn federal rules by a simple majority vote.

The United States Department of Commerce clarified the scope of the anti-circumvention investigation in December last year, claiming to allow the import of photovoltaic modules assembled in other countries and using photovoltaic cells manufactured in Southeast Asian countries. This clarification relieved many manufacturers who export PV modules to the United States. These manufacturers use PV cells produced in these four countries in Southeast Asia to assemble PV modules.

In June of last year, President Biden of the United States announced that photovoltaic modules and photovoltaic batteries imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam would be exempted from tariffs for 24 months to ensure that the United States photovoltaic industry could obtain enough photovoltaic modules.

Kilde said, "We cannot allow foreign PV module manufacturers to violate the trade law, especially in the case of harming the interests of American workers and enterprises. The U.S. federal government found in the investigation that some PV module manufacturers in some countries are evading the U.S. PV import tariffs, but the federal government has suspended the imposition of tariffs for two years, which is unacceptable. This bipartisan legislation supported by Democrats and Republicans will abolish this mistake The guiding rules are designed to implement the U.S. trade law according to the intent of Congress, and help the development of the U.S. photovoltaic manufacturing industry to meet our energy needs. "

Kilde said that PV module manufacturers in some countries and regions violated the US trade law and used unfair trade practices, government subsidies and other measures to weaken the competitiveness of American workers and PV module manufacturers. Therefore, the United States now mainly relies on foreign PV supply chains to meet more than 80% of domestic PV demand.

Last August, Biden approved the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to strengthen the domestic renewable energy supply chain and reduce the dependence on imported photovoltaic modules. The bill proposes to spend $369 billion on energy security and climate change projects in the next decade.