More than 80 US House representatives have joined a chorus of lawmakers opposing the solar tariffs investigation and pressed US President Joe Biden to expedite it.
In a letter signed by 85 members of Congress’ lower chamber, US President Joe Biden and the Department of Commerce were asked to expedite a preliminary determination to the alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) by solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
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“Many of us have repeatedly cautioned against the severe negative consequences this inquiry would have on the U.S. solar industry, and now that this investigation has been initiated, those consequences are playing out across the United States,” the letter reads.
“Mr. President, we commend you for setting ambitious emissions targets to reach 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net-zero economy-wide emissions by 2050. However, the present anti-circumvention inquiry threatens to completely derail the progress we have made.”
The full text of the letter can be seen here.
The representatives are the latest group of US politicians to urge for an accelerated preliminary determination of the AD/CVD investigation, after a bipartisan group of senators and governors did the same earlier this month.
In a similar tone taken by previous lawmakers, the letter highlighted the effects of tariffs up to 250% could have on the solar industry as a whole and the setbacks it would have on the country’s goal to reach zero-emission electricity by 2035.
Many companies across the US solar industry have already been affected by the consequences of the investigation, with EPC contractors lamenting the current situation and others having its first quarter affected by it and revising its revenues for the rest of the year due to the uncertainty of the solar market and possible delays and cancellations in the coming quarters.
Earlier this week, eight PV manufacturers, among them JinkoSolar, Trina Solar and Hanwha Q CELLS were selected from the Department of Commerce (DOC) to provide more information on their operations in the four countries concerned by the AD/CVD investigation.
Last week, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm raised her concerns about the country’s ability to reach zero-emission electricity by 2035 if the solar tariffs investigation resolution was not met fast enough.
