When the U.S. government launched an investigation in 2024 into whether solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were being dumped into the American market at prices that made U.S. manufacturers unable to compete, operations in those countries quickly shifted elsewhere. Soon, imports from India, Indonesia and Laos started ratcheting up.
The U.S. industry took notice. Today, a new antidumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigation has been petitioned by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade into the three new countries.
The U.S. International Trade Court (ITC) and the Dept. of Commerce (DOC) officially placed a range of tariffs on silicon solar cells (whether or not assembled into panels) from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam earlier this year. That investigation was petitioned by the same group of U.S. manufacturers that are now asking for a look at India, Indonesia and Laos. The trade group consists of thin-film panel manufacturer First Solar, silicon cell startup Talon PV and silicon panel manufacturers Qcells and Mission Solar.
While panel imports from India have been relatively steady, the data shows that imports from Indonesia and Laos are picking up.
A similar increase in cell imports can also be seen from the three countries.
The petitions request a look at largely Chinese-owned manufacturers in Laos and Indonesia, as well as general companies headquartered in India. The petitioners have identified dumping margins of 89.65% for Indonesia, up to 249.09% for Laos and 213.96% for India.
“The last petition filed on behalf of American solar manufacturers successfully enforced the rule of law and addressed illegally dumped and subsidized solar panels surging into the United States from Southeast Asia,” said Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley’s International Trade Practice and lead attorney for the Alliance. “But the same Chinese-backed companies wasted no time shifting operations to Laos and Indonesia, and companies in India joined in to continue undercutting American producers. We have always said, vigorous enforcement of our trade laws is critical to the success of this industry.”
The DOC will investigate whether imports are unfairly priced or subsidized and the ITC will determine whether those imports have injured the domestic industry. If both are affirmative, tariffs will be imposed to offset the unfair trade practices.