Bipartisan Resolution Would End Duty Pause for Solar AD/CVD Circumvention
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., and Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., introduced a resolution that would end the administration's pause on antidumping and countervailing duty collection for solar panel firms operating in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam that have been identified as circumventing AD/CV duties on Chinese solar panels. That was the finding of a preliminary determination published in December.
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Importers of those panels will not have to pay assessments or cash deposits through the middle of 2024 (see 2209160065).
The Congressional Review Act gives Congress the power to roll back rules such as this one if they were enacted within 60 legislative days of the end of the previous Congress. However, President Joe Biden could veto the resolution.
“We cannot allow foreign solar manufacturers to violate trade law, especially when it comes at the expense of American workers and businesses. The Biden administration found in its own investigation that China is evading U.S. tariffs on solar imports, but has paused action on this matter, which is unacceptable. This bipartisan legislation, supported by Democrats and Republicans, will repeal this misguided rule to enforce U.S. trade law as Congress intended and help America’s domestic solar manufacturing industry grow to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Kildee said in a press release.
The resolution has co-sponsors Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.; Bob Latta, R-Ohio; Terri Sewell, D-Ala.; and Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican who is a close ally to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
“The Communist Party of China should not be allowed to circumvent our trade laws and undercut American manufacturing,” Posey said. “Our federal government should be getting behind American businesses and leading the effort to boost our competitiveness around the world, especially when it comes to our nation’s energy independence. I want to thank my colleagues for joining together in a bipartisan effort to support American manufacturing jobs.”
The press release also quoted Coalition for a Prosperous America CEO Michael Stumo. "At a time when American manufacturers are investing billions of dollars to boost domestic production as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is indefensible that the Biden administration wants to undermine this by giving Chinese manufacturers a free pass to illegally violating U.S. trade law to the detriment of American companies and American workers,” he said.