Even if the Commerce Department finds that solar panels from Southeast Asia are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty actions against Chinese exports, no AD/CVD will be collected for the next two years, the Biden administration announced on June 6. Trade lawyers were astonished by the action, which is based on the authority to temporarily suspend AD/CVD when imports are needed to respond to natural disasters "or other emergencies."
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."
As companies work to move assembly out of China so that the goods they export to the U.S. won't be hit with Section 301 tariffs, they have to grapple with the fact that CBP may still consider a good made in Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam or elsewhere to be a product of China if enough of its innards were made in China.
Although utilities that are installing wind and solar operations and wind turbine manufacturers would like antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws to change to take public interest into account, panelists at Georgetown Law's International Trade Update acknowledged it will probably never happen.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is continuing to get criticism about the solar circumvention investigation, this time both from Republicans and Democrats, as she testified again in front of a Senate committee. She said that while she is not saying if the circumvention investigation will result in a finding, she wanted to address rhetoric that says the large majority of imported solar panels could be subject to a 200% tariff. On one company, it could actually be 270% (see 2205040015).
Senators said that officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative failed to consult properly before a proposal to make changes to the TRIPS Agreement regarding coronavirus vaccines was released, and that the agency's approach needs to change. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, led a letter, which said: "Administrations of both parties have struggled to comply with the terms Congress has provided to ensure its views are reflected in our trade policy. Accordingly, we request that you take steps to ensure Congress is a full partner in the Administration’s ongoing trade negotiations, regardless of whether the Administration believes any eventual agreement from such negotiations will require formal Congressional approval. To that end, the Office of the United States Trade Representative ... must provide Congress with timely, substantive briefings on negotiations and share all U.S. negotiating texts before the Administration commits the United States to a particular negotiating position or outcome."
A third of the Senate's Democratic caucus asked President Joe Biden to expedite an investigation into antidumping duty and countervailing duty circumvention by solar panel manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, if they use Chinese components. The letter, made public May 3, was led by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who made the same arguments when Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appeared before the Commerce Committee.
Members of Congress from Ohio, Texas, California, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, New York, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington are asking the Commerce Department to "fully and fairly examine allegations that Chinese solar companies are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties" on Chinese solar panels. Commerce said last week it needed more time to decide whether to take up a petition from Auxin Solar (see 2203090077). The letter, sent March 15, was led by Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.
A World Trade Organization panel said the U.S. International Trade Commission made numerous errors as it laid the groundwork for a safeguard tariff on large residential washing machines and parts, a tariff that is still in place for entries above the quota. The tariff is currently 14% within the quota threshold for washers and 30% on parts and washers above the quota threshold.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hopes to be able to support the House China package, since the trade group supported the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, but said the House bill "continues to include numerous policies that would undermine U.S. competitiveness, and Members are being denied the opportunity to vote on amendments to address these issues." The Chamber said it will push during the conference process to get better bill.