The US government has made the decision to increase the tariff rates on solar cells imported from China from 25% to 50% in order to protect against China’s policy-driven overcapacity that lowers prices and hinders the development of solar capacity outside of China.
The White House stated that China’s unfair practices have allowed it to dominate a large portion of the global solar supply chain and flood global markets with artificially cheap solar modules and panels, undermining investment in solar manufacturing outside of China.
Additionally, the Biden administration has chosen to raise tariffs on aluminum, steel, and semiconductors imported from China.
Tariffs on electric vehicles will increase from 25% to 100%, while those on lithium-ion EV batteries will rise from 7.5% to 25%. The government has also raised tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes and medical products.
“American workers and businesses can outcompete anyone—as long as they have fair competition. But for too long, China’s government has used unfair, non-market practices,” the US government said.
“China’s forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft have contributed to its control of 70%, 80%, and even 90% of global production for the critical inputs necessary for our technologies, infrastructure, energy, and health care – creating unacceptable risks to America’s supply chains and economic security.”
Source: US government
