The United States has waived tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations – including Thailand – for two years and invoked the Defense Production Act to promote solar panel manufacturing at home.
Defense Production Act invoked
The announcement came as part of a package of measures to accelerate clean energy product development in the U.S. In addition to the waiver, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to upgrade the electrical grid and speed up investment in the domestic manufacturing of solar panels, building insulation, heat pumps and clean energy fuels, reports VOA News.
President Joe Biden on Monday invoked the Defense Production Act to spur US solar panel manufacturing and exempted tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations for two years as part of his push for clean energy, the White House said.
The tariff waiver applies to panels from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam and will serve as a “bridge” while US manufacturing ramps up, it said in a statement, confirming a Reuters report.
Biden’s action comes in response to a DOC probe into whether Southeast Asian solar cell manufacturers are using parts made in China that would normally be subject to a tariff.
In 2011, the U.S. charged China with “dumping” solar panels in the U.S. market, a term for selling them at below cost and imposed tariffs of as much as 250% on Chinese-made solar panels.
The use of executive action also comes as the Biden administration’s clean energy tax cuts, and other major proposals meant to encourage domestic green energy production, have stalled in Congress.
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Bangkok Correspondent for Siam News Network. Editor at Thailand Business News
