Solar News - US sets tariffs on China solar imports

US sets tariffs on China solar imports

21 Mar 2012

The US Commerce Department has set duties of up to 4.73 per cent on solar products being imported from China, in a move that sees the government back its domestic manufacturing industry.

But some in the industry believe that a tariff of less than five per cent – amounting to $3.1bn a year – will do little to curb Chinese dominance in the sector.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Gordon Brisner, president of the US unit of SolarWorld which originally filed the complaint, said, ‘This is a clear statement going forward, there was not free trade happening.

‘We support free trade without government intervention, and clearly there has been illegal Chinese government interference.’

The move is likely to dent the US trade relations which China, with the tariff rate being set just a week after it lodged a complaint alongside Japan and the European Union at the World Trade Organisation about China’s export limits on rare earth minerals.

Tags: solar, SolarWorld