With increasing Chinese manufacturers’ interference, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) has issued an evaluation of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data that depicts “Chinese manufacturers more than doubled imports of crystalline solar cells and panels into the country in the latter half of 2011”.
According to the CASM, this step attempts to avoid a possible increase in tariffs on solar components by the United States. It also appealed to the U.S. Department of Commerce to apply retroactive duties to Chinese solar products’ imports.
The publicly-available data from the Customs and Border Protection’s Port Import Export Reporting Service by the Coalition’s investigation puts light on evidence of malfeasance by many Chinese manufacturers. The CASM added that their research contains examples of companies stockpiling “dumped and illegally subsidized” Chinese solar imports.
Gordon Brinser, a spokesman of the CASM and president of SolarWorld Industries, said that the ITC and Dept. of Commerce must take some actions and protect the right of the U.S. Solar manufacturers.
He pointed out: “This most recent surge of Chinese solar imports gives the U.S. Department of Commerce the evidence it needs not only to make a preliminary determination in our favour but also to apply a critical-circumstances finding to address this last-minute import surge.”
The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) has strongly boycotted CASM’s claims. It added that the protectionism would raise the price of solar electricity and left a negative impact on more than 5,000 American solar companies and over 100,000 American jobs.
The CASE stated that “the potential counteraction from countries being targeted, such as China, against American solar exports would also hurt America’s global leadership in selling solar equipment and raw materials to countries around the world.” It explained that the CASM’s activities are largely focused on Chinese solar companies, although the SolarWorld is a German company.
