the United States adds another variable, and solar products shipped from Southeast Asian countries to the United States may face tariffs of up to 254% in the future!
According to Bloomberg News on May 4, the U.S. Senate voted 56 to 41 to lift the tariff exemption. If the resolution is finally passed by the White House, tariffs on solar panels imported from Southeast Asia could be as high as 254%, and tariffs on imports currently affected are below double digits. The House of Representatives passed the resolution by a vote of 221 to 202
on Saturday (April 29).
Next, the resolution will be handed over to President Biden.
According to previous reports, Biden's current position is to firmly veto the resolution and retain the tariff exemption suspension period until early June 2024. It is
worth mentioning that the US Senate and House of Representatives need a two-thirds majority vote to override the veto, which is a very high threshold, and the votes of the Senate and House of Representatives have not yet been reached.
'Will have a devastating impact on the US solar industry '
The US dispute over imports of solar products dates back to 2022. In February
of that year, Auxin Solar, a California-based solar panel manufacturer, asked the U.S. Ministry of Commerce to investigate solar panels from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia to determine whether Chinese solar companies assembled their products in four Asian countries before shipping them to the United States to avoid U.S. tariffs.
In response, the White House firmly opposed it and announced on June 6, 2022 that as part of the Clean Energy Initiative, President Biden would stop imposing tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian countries in accordance with the Defense Production Act, allowing the United States to import solar panels from Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. It will not be affected by tariffs for two years, and the United States says it will not impose new tariffs on solar products for two years.
In addition, the May 4 proposal was opposed by local industry associations.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, if the two-year tariff exemption is lifted, U.S. solar developers could face a total of $1 billion in retroactive tariffs. It is expected that 4G W solar projects will be cancelled, accounting for 14% of the solar installation target in the United States in 2023. The bill could also eliminate 30,000 jobs and $4.2 billion in domestic investment.
"This massively disruptive resolution will have a devastating impact on the U.S. solar industry," said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Renewable Energy Council. Abigail Rose Hopper (Abigail Ross Hopper), president and CEO of the
Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement that the United States cannot produce enough solar panels and batteries to meet demand, and Biden's exemption from tariffs on solar panels provides the United States with time to make up the difference. According to
the White House, since Biden took office, the domestic solar power capacity in the United States has increased from 7.5G W to 15G W, and his goal is to reach 22.5G W by the end of his first term in 2024.
But at present, this installation target is constrained by the serious shortage of photovoltaic products.
According to media reports, for a long time, due to the outflow of manufacturing industry in the United States, resulting in the lack of local photovoltaic supply chain and preparation capacity, local photovoltaic companies in the United States have relied more on the introduction of components. In 2021, only 4.23 GW of components were produced in the United States, accounting for only about 14% of total shipments. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data, the existing module production capacity in the United States is less than 7 GW.
In 2022, the import volume of photovoltaic products in the United States increased sharply. According to
US customs data, in December 2022, the import volume of battery modules in the United States was 4.26 GW, with a year-on-year increase of 200.24% and a month-on-month increase of 23.15%, of which the import volume of modules was 4.02 GW, with a month-on-month increase of 23.76%, accounting for 94.3% of the total import volume of battery modules; Battery imports were 0.24 GW, up 13.9% from the previous month, accounting for 5.7% of the total imports of battery components.
Response: Chinese photovoltaic enterprises "indirect way to save the nation"
Regardless of whether the solar panel tariff exemption bill for the four Southeast Asian countries can be passed, Chinese photovoltaic enterprises have been facing greater pressure to fight for the US market.
In recent years, photovoltaic industry has been frequently used to suppress China's photovoltaic industry. Many Chinese enterprises have begun to build factories in Southeast Asia, and the impact of the bill on such enterprises is evident.
In addition, the United States and Europe are actively promoting the localization of the supply chain of the new energy industry chain. Even if the two-year exemption period can be implemented, after the two-year exemption period, with the continuous increase of photovoltaic production capacity in the United States, China's production capacity in Southeast Asia will still face tariff risks, and Chinese enterprises may be under greater competitive pressure.
However, many Chinese enterprises have set up factories directly in the United States.
At present, TCL Central, Jingao Technology and other enterprises have set up factories in the United States.
Since 2023, three component companies, Jingao Technology, Longji Green Energy and Zhejiang Haoneng, have announced that they will go to the United States to build factories/expand production.
In addition, in April this year, Jingke Energy announced a US plant expansion project with a total investment of up to $52 million, which has been approved by the local government to add 1G W module capacity. Previously, Jingke Energy had a photovoltaic module assembly plant in Florida, USA, which was established in November 2017 and put into operation in 2018, mainly responsible for the production and sales of photovoltaic modules.
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