WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden extended tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on most solar panels imported from China and other countries. But in a nod to his efforts to combat climate change and boost clean energy, Biden excluded tariffs on some panels used in large-scale utility projects.
Biden said he will continue for four more years tariffs imposed by Trump on imported solar cells and panels, but he exempted so-called bifacial solar panels that can generate electricity on both sides and are now used in many large solar projects. The technology was still emerging when the tariffs were first imposed by Trump.
“By excluding bifacial panels, we will ensure that solar deployment continues at the pace and scale needed to meet the president´s ambitious climate and clean energy targets and create good jobs at home,” Biden said in a statement according to AP.
Along with clean-energy provisions in his still-stalled “Build Back Better” initiative, the actions on solar power “will enable us to rebuild a sustainable, competitive, and technologically-advanced domestic solar industry,” Biden said.
Biden also doubled an import quota on solar cells – the main components of panels that go on rooftops and utility sites – to 5 gigawatts, allowing a greater number of imported cells used by domestic manufacturers.
The US does not currently produce solar cells, and the administration wants to make sure domestic suppliers “do not have to pay a tariff on a key input for their manufacturing process,” a senior administration official said late Friday.
The cells come from places like Vietnam or Malaysia – not China, the official said. “There is no reason to think that making the (import quota) larger will somehow help China,” the official said, a claim that some US solar manufacturers disputed.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
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