The US Commerce Department has finalised steep duties on solar cells and panels imported from India, Indonesia and Laos, after finding that producers dumped products at unfairly low prices and benefited from government subsidies.
The department set anti-dumping margins of 123.04% for Indian producers, 94.36% for Indonesian producers and 65.43% for Lao producers.
It also imposed countervailing duty rates of 126.09% on Indian producers, between 73.2% and 173.7% on Indonesian producers, and between 82.03% and 153.67% on Lao producers.
The findings follow a trade investigation brought by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, whose members include US solar manufacturers First Solar, Hanwha Qcells and Mission Solar Energy.
According to Reuters, the alliance said the final determinations were a step towards enforcing US trade laws and addressing competition concerns facing domestic solar manufacturers.
The measures are not yet final. The US International Trade Commission is scheduled to determine on October 14 whether the imports have materially injured, or threaten to injure, US manufacturers.
If the commission rules in favour of the domestic industry, the Commerce Department is expected to issue final duty orders in November.
The case is the latest development in a long-running US trade dispute over solar imports. Washington first imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese solar products in 2012, prompting manufacturers to shift production to other Asian countries.
