Biden extends Trump-era solar tariffs on China, but loosens some in nod to clean energy efforts
- The US president also doubled an import quota on solar cells to 5 gigawatts, allowing a greater number of imported cells used by domestic manufacturers
- Labour unions support import restrictions to protect domestic jobs, while the solar industry relies in large part on cheap panels imported from China and other countries
Biden said he will continue for four more years tariffs imposed by Trump on imported solar cells and panels, but he exempted so-called bifacial solar panels that can generate electricity on both sides and are now used in many large solar projects. The technology was still emerging when the tariffs were first imposed by Trump.
“By excluding bifacial panels, we will ensure that solar deployment continues at the pace and scale needed to meet the president’s ambitious climate and clean energy targets and create good jobs at home,” Biden said in a statement.
Along with clean-energy provisions in his still-stalled Build Back Better initiative, the actions on solar power “will enable us to rebuild a sustainable, competitive, and technologically-advanced domestic solar industry”, Biden said.
Biden also doubled an import quota on solar cells – the main components of panels that go on rooftops and utility sites – to 5 gigawatts, allowing a greater number of imported cells used by domestic manufacturers.
The US does not currently produce solar cells, and the administration wants to make sure domestic suppliers “do not have to pay a tariff on a key input for their manufacturing process”, a senior administration official said Friday.
The cells come from places like Vietnam or Malaysia – not China, the official said. “There is no reason to think that making the (import quota) larger will somehow help China,” the official said, a claim that some US solar manufacturers disputed. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.
