Solar Trade Case, With Trump as Arbiter, Could Upend Market
Then, too, the major Chinese manufacturers are already exploring options for opening their own factories in the United States, said Ocean Yuan, chief executive of Grape
Solar, a distributor of panels based in Eugene, Ore. "There’s no other way for them to enter the U.S. except that they make panels in the United States," he said.
Suniva argues that because of the global nature of the solar trade, the American manufacturing industry needs blanket safeguards from the trade commission
that would apply to the crystalline silicon cells and modules manufactured anywhere outside the United States.
After the imposition of tariffs beginning in 2012 that ranged from about 20 percent to about 55 percent for the largest cell
and panel makers, manufacturers outside China and Taiwan — including those in the United States like SolarWorld and Suniva — saw their fortunes rise.
With control of Suniva in the hands of the bankruptcy court, Shunfeng declared in May
that it no longer supported the company’s trade case, saying it was "not in the best interests of the global solar industry." It said in March that it would take a charge of roughly $38 million on its Suniva investment, though it could still benefit if the company prevails in the case.
The cheaper equipment coming into the American market is often from Chinese manufacturers
that the trade commission previously determined were dumping goods below cost, according to the petition.
Back then, SolarWorld Americas, a subsidiary of a now-bankrupt German panel maker, filed a trade complaint along with six other domestic solar manufacturers
that accused their Chinese counterparts of using unfair government subsidies to finance their operations and then selling their merchandise for less than the cost of manufacturing and shipping it.
