President Joe Biden will declare a 24-month tariff exemption for solar panels from sour countries in Southeast Asia. The announcement today comes after an investigation froze imports and stalled solar projects in the United States.
It comes amid concerns about the impact of a months-long investigation by the Commerce Department, which was looking into whether solar panel imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are circumventing tariffs on goods that are made in China.
Biden’s action would allay concerns from companies about having to hold billions of dollars in reserves, set aside to potentially pay tariffs. Sources close to the matter say that at the heart of the measure is an effort to save these solar projects and ensure the projects move forward.
Biden will also invoke the Defense Production Act to drive American manufacturing is solar panels as well as other clean energy technologies.
The issue was a unique dilemma for the administration, which wants to show the U.S. as a leader in addressing climate change, while also respecting and keeping its distance from the investigation.
The investigation was announced at the end of March and could take 150 days or even more to finish.
The investigation proceedings essentially halted the flow of solar panels, which made up more than half of American supplies and 80 percent of imports.
Its effect on the industry was chilling. Green energy experts say that the action today is much needed to reprieve from the probe. In the two years of tariff suspension, the solar industry in America can return to rapid deployment and to growing American solar manufacturing.
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