The House voted Friday to reinstate debilitating solar tariffs as high as 254% in a decision closely watched by the industry amid a veto threat for the measure from the White House.
The 221-202 vote on the bill, which would undo a two-year moratorium on the duties put in place by President Joe Biden, garnered 12 Democratic votes — amid defections from pro-labor aligned Democrats. Still, the level of Democratic support fell well short of the number needed to muster two-thirds majority to overcome a veto.
The development comes amid increasing anti-China sentiment on Capitol Hill and even if it doesn’t become law, the resolution casts a glaring spotlight on the US solar industry’s reliance on cheap imported solar panels and gives the GOP a chance to paint Democrats as soft on China.
“Democrats’ radical ‘Green New Deal’ agenda is putting China above American manufacturers,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said. “American manufacturers deserve to compete on a fair playing field.”
A successful effort by Republicans would re-instate duties placed on solar imports from four Asian nations — Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam — that supply roughly 80% of US panels after the Commerce Department found some Chinese solar manufacturers were evading decade-old import duties. It would also subject the US solar industry to retroactive tariffs estimated to be more than $1 billion.
The Biden administration issued the suspension of new duties on the affected solar panels through June 2024 to give the industry more time to ramp up domestic solar manufacturing.
“With US solar manufacturing capacity able to meet only about one-third of current demand, our domestic industry needs time to scale production and support good union jobs,” Hebah Kassem, a director with the Sierra Club, said in a statement.
