South Korea has requested consultations with the US government over its newly announced solar import tariffs, threatening legal action at the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the dispute is not resolved, according to documents filed at the WTO.
The Trump administration's 30% tariff on imports of solar cells and modules will result in modules cost increases of 9-10¢/W in year one, reducing to 3-4¢/W in year four, according to separate analyses by GTM Research and Deutsche Bank.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has sent a plea to president Trump asking him to preserve tens of thousands of US solar jobs by not imposing high tariffs on imported solar panels, while Trump himself has indicated that he will make a decision on the Section 201 Case soon.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has recommended duties and quotas in the section 201 case falling some way short of those requested by the petitioners.
As the Trump Administration dials back the Clean Power Plan citing pesky environmental regulations for coal's problems, its claims of being against intervention ring hollow. If the President wants modern, independent and increasingly economically sustainable power infrastructure, he should be backing solar.
Should the Suniva trade case proposals get approved, two thirds of the US solar pipeline expected to come online over the next five years could be wiped out, according to a new report from GTM Research.
Technology conglomerate Apple Inc. has issued its second green bond valued at US$1 billion, in the wake of president Trump withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.
