Today, Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) led a bicameral letter alongside Senators Sherrod Brown (OH) and Bob Casey (PA), and Representatives Tim Ryan (OH-13), Mike Doyle (PA-18), and Terri Sewell (AL-07) to President Joe Biden expressing support for the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) investigation into whether Chinese solar cells and modules are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) through Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. The lawmakers’ support for the investigation comes after an extended corporate political lobbying campaign against American manufacturers.
AD/CVD laws shield domestic manufacturers and producers from unfair trade practices. The current case concerns the threat to domestic production of solar modules, which are necessary components of our burgeoning electrical grid and infrastructure. Duty evasion leaves American companies at a competitive disadvantage, and means AD/CVD orders do not bring full relief to U.S. companies impacted by unfair trade. The Chinese government has a history of investing in “third party” countries in order to continue dumping their subsidized products in the U.S. market.
“The duties currently imposed on Chinese solar cells and modules are in place after exhaustive investigations by both the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission found that Chinese solar cells and modules were being unfairly dumped onto the American market and materially injuring our American solar industry,” wrote Rep. Kaptur and her colleagues.
“To underscore and reiterate the point: these laws are designed to ensure that American manufacturers and producers can compete on a level playing field, free from unfair trade practices,” Rep. Kaptur and her colleagues continued.
“If undue political influence on this case is allowed to prevail, it would lead to more risks and vulnerabilities tomorrow by sending the message to non-market countries that our trade enforcement laws and future AD/CVD cases can be undermined through aggressive political lobbying,” Rep. Kaptur and her colleagues concluded.
Recent political pressure has attempted to influence this investigation, which undermines the integrity of U.S. trade enforcement laws and the independence of our federal workforce. These investigations are critical for American manufacturers to compete with unfair Chinese trade practices. The United States currently leads the world in solar technology innovation, yet 80% of the world’s solar panels are currently made in China. Through a combination of lax environmental standards, the use of forced labor in the Xinjiang region, targeted subsidies, and other predatory trade practices such as dumping, circumvention, and intellectual property theft, China has engaged in unfair trade for years against American competitors.
The full letter from Rep. Kaptur and her colleagues can be found here.
Original source can be found here.
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