US solar tariffs denounced as protectionism
By Richard Fu |
October 12, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA yesterday slammed a US decision to impose steep final tariffs on Chinese solar panels, saying America's move signaled trade protectionism and could damage the global development of renewable energy.
On Wednesday, the US Commerce Department upheld punitive anti-dumping duties of 18.32 to 249.96 percent on Chinese solar products, although some companies received lower duty rates than in a preliminary ruling in May.
The tariffs come at a time when the Chinese solar industry is suffering from huge losses because of weak demand and falling prices. Chinese solar companies are also facing similar action in the European Union, their largest market.
China voices strong dissatisfaction with the US final duties, Shen Danyang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, said in a statement.
"The United States is provoking trade friction in the new energy sector and sending a negative signal to the world about protectionism and obstructing the development of new energy," Shen said, calling on Washington to "correct its mistaken ways."
The US also set higher final countervailing duties on Chinese solar products ranging from 14.78 to 15.97 percent to counter government subsides received by Chinese solar firms.
Chinese solar manufacturers have long rejected accusations that they sold products at too low a price or that they received government subsidies in violation of trade rules.
"Unilateral trade barriers will not make any one company more competitive, but will make solar less competitive against other forms of electricity generation," said E.L. "Mick" McDaniel, managing director for America of China's Suntech Power Holdings Co, the world's largest solar panel maker.
"These ill-conceived taxes on solar products were the outcome of an unrealistic analysis," he said, pointing to the US investigation in which the US used production costs in Thailand, a country with less than 0.1 gigawatt of photovoltaic production capacity, as a proxy for costs in China, which manufactured about 15GW.
"The potential of the US solar market is vast, and we remain dedicated despite the industry's challenges throughout this past year," said Miao Liansheng, chairman and chief executive officer of Yingli Green Energy, a Chinese solar firm based in Baoding, Hebei Province. "We will always be appreciative to the overwhelming majority of the American solar industry who stood behind us and the other respondents."
The trade actions have prompted some Chinese companies to outsource manufacturing to other counties to avoid duties.
China has said the punitive duties could cost American jobs because the US is also a supplier of materials, such as polysilicon, to China's solar industry.
US imports of solar cells from China were valued at an estimated US$3.1 billion in 2011, according to the US Commerce Department.
The US International Trade Commission is due to make a final determination on the issue by November 23.
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