Washington, June 7 (BNA): President Joe Biden on Monday ordered emergency measures to boost critical supplies to US solar manufacturers and announced a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels from Southeast Asia as he tried to advance progress toward his goals to combat climate change. . .
His protest against the Defense Production Act and its other enforcement measures comes amid complaints from industry groups that the solar energy sector is slowing due to supply chain problems due to the Commerce Department’s investigation into potential trade violations. News of the White House’s actions prompted solar energy companies to make gains on Wall Street, the Associated Press reported.
The Commerce Department announced in March that it was scrutinizing imports of solar panels from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, concerned that products from those countries evaded US anti-dumping rules.
White House officials said Biden’s actions are aimed at increasing domestic production of solar panel parts, building assembly materials, high-efficiency heat pumps and other components, including cells used for clean energy fuels. They described the tariff suspension affecting imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia as a bridging measure while other efforts increase domestic solar production — even as the administration continues to support US trade laws and Commerce investigations.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a Senate committee in May that the solar investigation follows a process established by law that does not allow consideration of climate change, supply chains or other factors. On Monday, she said she remains “committed to upholding our trade laws and ensuring that American workers have a chance to compete on a level playing field.”
“The president’s emergency declaration ensures American families have access to reliable and clean electricity while ensuring that we have the ability to hold our business partners accountable for their obligations,” Raimondo said in a statement.
Clean energy leaders have long warned that the investigation – which could lead to retroactive tariffs of up to 240% – would severely hamper the US solar industry, laying off thousands of workers and putting up to 80% of solar projects at risk. Planned across the country at risk.
The department considers that rates above 200% for solar energy products will not apply to the vast majority of imports. However, any potential penalty may have jeopardized one of Biden’s most important clean energy goals and conflict with his administration’s push for renewable energy such as wind and solar power, advocates argue.
“The president’s announcement will rejuvenate domestic solar construction and manufacturing by restoring predictability and business certainty that a flawed Commerce Department investigation has held up,” said Heather Zycal, CEO of the Clean Energy Association of America and a former Obama administration official. Monday statement.
Abigail Ross Huber, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, welcomed Biden’s “thoughtful approach to addressing the current crisis of the paralyzed solar supply chain.”
“Today’s actions protect existing solar jobs, increase employment in the solar industry and strengthen a strong solar manufacturing base here at home,” Ross Huber said in a statement.
But not everyone in the industry was supportive.
“Management can’t hold onto a Band-Aid on this issue and hope it goes away,” Samantha Sloan, the company’s vice president of policy, said in a statement.
The use of the executive measure comes as the Biden administration’s tax cuts on clean energy, and other key proposals intended to encourage domestic green energy production, have stalled in Congress.
The Defense Production Act allows the federal government to produce direct manufacturing for national defense and has become a tool more commonly used by presidents in recent years. The Trump administration used it to produce medical equipment and supplies during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden invoked his authority in April to boost production of lithium and other metals used to power electric vehicles. Last month, he used it again to prioritize increasing the country’s supply of infant formula amid domestic shortages caused by the safety-related shutdown of the country’s largest formula milk plant.
Jan Su, director of the Energy Equity Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that Biden’s announcement could “give critical impetus to the needed transition to solar energy.”
“We hope that the use of the Defense Production Act will be a turning point for the president, who should use all of his executive powers to tackle the climate emergency head-on,” Su said.
MI