US solar panel manufacturers seek tariff investigation on Ethiopia

A group of U.S. manufacturers of solar panels?asked federal trade officials on Tuesday to investigate solar shipments coming from Ethiopia. They alleged that the companies were completing their products in Ethiopia to avoid paying import duties for Chinese-made goods. This is the latest attempt by domestic solar panel manufacturers to get tariffs imposed on imports made by Chinese companies. The filing claims that Toyo of Japan and Origin Solar Manufacturing use Chinese wafers in Ethiopia to manufacture solar cells, before assembling these?cells in Ethiopia or Vietnam to export to the U.S. It's illegal to?circumvent U.S. Tariffs by rerouting goods via other countries, with minor processing changes. The petitioning group consists of Arizona-based First?Solar?Inc, Qcells and the solar manufacturing division of South Korea's Hanwha. Also included are?six other smaller producers. Both First 'Solar and Qcells invested billions in major U.S. factories for solar panels. Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing solar manufacturers. Ethiopia was the top solar importer in the U.S. Last year, Ethiopia was the 7th largest solar energy importer in the United States.

Tim Brightbill is a partner at Wiley Rein, and the lead lawyer for the group. He said in a statement that "what we're observing in Ethiopia follows a well-known playbook." "American solar manufacturing has reached a turning point. With billions of dollars invested, thousands created jobs, and real capacity coming on line, we are not going to allow serial tariff evasion to undermine that progress."

Since a decade, the U.S. has imposed anti-dumping and contravailing duties on solar products made in China?after an investigation by Commerce found that companies there were receiving unfair government subsides which?kept their prices artificially low. The U.S. has also imposed tariffs on products coming from Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia after many Chinese companies set up factories there. (Reporting and editing by David Gregorio; Nichola Groom)

(source: Reuters)