Auxin Solar calls for US examination into tariff circumvention by Southeast Asia-based business

Feb 10, 2022 12:28 PM ET
  • Auxin Solar has actually asked the US Department of Commerce to investigate whether Southeast Asia-based business are circumventing United States anti-dumping as well as countervailing responsibility (AD/CVD) orders on cells as well as modules from China.
Auxin Solar calls for US examination into tariff circumvention by Southeast Asia-based business
Image: Flickr/Luke Price

California-based module maker Auxin has asked for that Commerce accomplish anti-circumvention questions into assemblers of crystalline silicon PV (CSPV) cells and modules in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and also Cambodia that it alleges use affiliated Chinese input providers and also a completely integrated Chinese supply chain to circumvent the orders.

The move comes three months after Commerce rejected another request asking for examinations right into supposed AD/CVD circumvention, with the department citing the privacy of the petitioners.

Adhering to that decision, the team behind that request-- the American Solar Manufacturers Against Chinese Circumvention (A-SMACC)-- stated it was "assessing all alternatives", consisting of refiling a request "pleasing the Commerce Department's problems".

While A-SMACC had actually stated that the AD/CVD request was "crucial" for United States solar manufacturing, profession body the Solar Energy Industries Association alerted in September that suggested obligations on imports from Southeast Asian countries might jeopardise the release of 18GW people solar by 2023.

In records sent out to Commerce, Auxin Solar said that because the imposition of AD/CVD orders in 2012, imports of CSPV cells and also modules from China have actually declined substantially and have been changed entirely by imports from Southeast Asian nations, which now account for a lot of cell and also module shipments right into the US.

The firm's request, submitted the other day (8 February), suggests Commerce has thirty days to decide on whether to launch queries.

"This is yet a brand-new risk for the US solar industry," analysts at financial investment financial institution Roth Capital Partners said in a note, adding that the tariffs would be retroactive to the date Commerce takes the situation on.

Auxin Solar was among the business that in 2015 asked for the US to expand Section 201 import tariffs. The Biden management verified last week that the tariffs will certainly be extended for one more 4 years, with bifacial panels continuing to be exempt.


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