Hillsboro solar-panel co., Wyden cheer trade ruling

A Hillsboro solar equipment company and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., hailed a Commerce Department ruling Tuesday as a victory for strong enforcement of trade rules, as it found China and Taiwan has been subsidizing low-cost solar panels dumped into the U.S. market.

The agency sided with Hillsboro-based SolarWorld, ruling that Chinese and Taiwanese producers used illegal foreign government subsidies and dumped below-cost solar panels and modules on the U.S. market.

“The facts show that these foreign producers are breaking the rules, plain and simple,” said Wyden, the Senate Finance Committee chairman. “I am pleased that the Commerce Department made the right call.

“Oregon solar manufacturers can compete with anyone in the world, as long as the other countries are forced to play by the rules. This decision provides the relief U.S. manufacturers badly need to thrive and continue restoring lost jobs.”

The Commerce Department has recommended hefty new duties on these unfairly traded products, which will become final early next year, provided the International Trade Commission affirms its preliminary findings that the industry was harmed by unfair trade, Wyden’s office said Further information from Commerce on the ruling can be found here.

Wyden has consistently stood up for U.S. manufacturers against trade cheats like China, according to a news release from his office.

He backed this trade case when it was filed in 2013 and testified in support of SolarWorld at the International Trade Commission on December 8th. Earlier this month, Wyden successfully strengthened federal procurement laws,to require the Defense Department to only buy solar panels that are made in America.

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Here’s the company’s news release on the ruling:

SolarWorld Commends Critical Wins in Trade Cases against China, Taiwan

Company applauds U.S. government’s trade duties and scope as promising measures to reignite American factory hiring after years of improper trade practices

HILLSBORO, Ore.– SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer for nearly 40 years, commended the U.S. Department of Commerce for issuing final duties on a comprehensive scope of solar imports, announced today, in the company’s second set of trade cases over 3 years. SolarWorld said that Commerce, by comprehensively addressing the allegedly unfair trade practices of China and Taiwan, has paved the way for expansion of solar manufacturing in the strong and growing U.S. market.

Commerce announced anti-dumping duty rates of 52.13 percent and anti-subsidy rates of 38.72 percent on most imports of solar panels made in China and anti-dumping rates of 19.50 percent on most imports of solar cells made in Taiwan, regardless of where they are assembled into panels.

In separate SolarWorld cases concluded in December 2012, Commerce imposed duties averaging about 31 percent on solar cells from China, regardless of where they are assembled into panels. Until recently, Chinese industry largely evaded those duties by using cells made in Taiwan, according to federal import statistics.

SolarWorld said it was optimistic that the new duties, along with the scope of imports that they cover, can curb or offset the Chinese industry’s circumvention of duties to address improper trade practices in the company’s first cases. SolarWorld said the success of the new trade remedies will depend on steadfast enforcement.

“These remedies come just in time to enable the domestic industry to return to conditions of fair trade,” said Mukesh Dulani, U.S. president of SolarWorld. “The tariffs and scope set the stage for companies to create new jobs and build or expand factories on U.S. soil.”

“For this possibility, we thank the many U.S. trade investigators who exhaustively probed and addressed the facts of our cases as well as the resolve of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who championed our position that our workers should not be forced to compete with the Chinese government,” he said.

“We also offer our profound gratitude to the 250 employers and 25,000 workers in the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing who publicly stood with us through this protracted crisis,” Dulani said. “They can be assured that SolarWorld will not shrink from its obligation to ensure their workers can participate in fierce but fair competition.”

The duties will go into effect around Feb. 1 if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) affirms that the Chinese and Taiwanese trade practices injured domestic manufacturers. The ITC, which has made three previous affirmative votes in the solar cases, is expected to take its fourth vote on Jan. 20.