Heinrich, Rosen Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Commerce Secretary To Stop Threat of Additional Tariffs On Solar Imports
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Jacky Rosen (D-N.V.) announced today that they are leading a bipartisan group of senators in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce urging Secretary Gina Raimondo to carefully assess the validity of a recently filed petition to expand job-killing tariffs on solar panels and cells imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.
“We are writing to express our concerns regarding the latest solar tariff petition filed with the Department of Commerce that would severely harm the U.S. solar industry and its 250,000 American solar workers,” wrote the senators. “Given the significant repercussions of imposing new tariffs on imported solar products, we implore you to carefully consider: 1) the validity of this petition, 2) whether it is more appropriate for the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to consider this matter as separate antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) cases, and 3) if it is appropriate to initiate the investigation called for in this petition.”
“Last year, imports from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia accounted for more than 80% percent of all CSPV imports and nearly 60% of total U.S. panel supply. New tariffs on solar products from these four countries would stall many ongoing and planned U.S. solar projects, negatively impacting every segment of the U.S. solar industry and resulting in significant job losses. In particular, the tariffs would have direct impact on the almost 90% of solar jobs in the United States that are not in the manufacturing sector,” the senators’ letter continued.
In addition to Senators Heinrich and Rosen, the bipartisan letter was signed by U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kans.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
