Democrats Question Lobbying Against Solar Circumvention Investigation
A group of lawmakers is calling the outcry around the anticircumvention case on solar panels made in Southeast Asia "an attempt to undermine the integrity of our trade enforcement laws and the independence of our federal workforce."
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Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Reps. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio; Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., sent President Joe Biden a letter May 26 that said China has come to dominate solar panel manufacturing through "a combination of lax environmental standards, the use of forced labor in the Xinjiang region, targeted subsidies, and other predatory trade practices such as dumping, circumvention, and intellectual property theft," and American solar panel makers have been forced to play "whack-a-mole" as Chinese companies moved subsidized operations to Taiwan after a 2012 antidumping case, and then to Southeast Asia after a 2014 AD/CVD case against a Taiwanese operation.
"This new petition filed on behalf of a small woman-and-minority-owned company, Auxin Solar, alleges that the antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese cells and modules are being circumvented by shipping Chinese-made goods though countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. If the petition is correct, this is an illegal circumvention of U.S. trade remedy laws. The [Department of Commerce] is upholding U.S. law by investigating this petition. Investigations must be allowed to move forward, free from external influence," they wrote. "If there is no illegal circumvention of our trade remedy laws, the investigation will draw that conclusion."
They said Commerce Department career employees need enough time and money "to thoroughly investigate this petition – any request to end the investigation earlier than what is necessary for a thorough investigation is, in essence, a request for lax enforcement of U.S. trade remedy laws."
They also argued the arguments against the circumvention case on climate grounds are disingenuous, as solar installations have grown as tariffs have added up. "The cost of solar has continued to decline, despite previous tariffs imposed under Solar 1 and Solar 2 AD/CVD and Section 201 Solar Safeguards," they wrote.
“If undue political influence on this case is allowed to prevail, it would lead to more risks and vulnerabilities tomorrow by sending the message to non-market countries that our trade enforcement laws and future AD/CVD cases can be undermined through aggressive political lobbying,” they said in closing.