The Hill News

Like any moment of truth, the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce to set unexpectedly low tariffs on solar cells and panels imported from China, may be a precursor for its next decision on May 17 in a trade case brought by SolarWorld, the German-owned solar cell manufacturer.

Since filing a petition seeking tariffs as high as 250 percent, SolarWorld has made repeated claims that the Chinese government provides huge subsidies to Chinese solar cell manufacturers with the goal of undercutting U.S. manufacturers.

In his November 8 testimony to the International Trade Commission, which is conducting the investigation into SolarWorld’s allegations, Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld’s U.S. subsidiary, asserted, “But for the massive amounts of support from the Chinese Government, China's solar industry has no production cost advantage to warrant its exceedingly low-priced product.” Clearly, the Department of Commerce decision on March ! 19 took the wind from SolarWorld’s sails when they announced tariffs of just 3 to 5 percent on imported Chinese cells and panels.

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