Inquiry into import tax evasion on solar cells and solar panels by diverted imports from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia Started at the end of March After Axin Solar Request and Inquiry for Enforcement Had submitted.

Disaster impact
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has now conducted a survey on the impact of research among its supporters. More than 90 percent of the companies surveyed say the ministry’s actions have a serious or devastating impact on their base.

All market segments – residential, commercial, community solar and utility scale solar – have reported major devastating or severe impacts from the tariff investigation.

70,000 jobs are at risk
Two-thirds of companies report that half of their employees are at risk and one-third that their entire staff is at risk.

Wood Mackenzie’s previous research and fee study found that 16 gigawatts of peak solar panels could be removed from the U.S. supply chain, accounting for two – thirds of all solar panels installed by 2021. The SEIA estimates that the industry could lose 70,000 of its 231,000 jobs as a result of the study.

Domestic production
SEIA President and CEO Abigail Rose Hopper said: “This investigation is based on an unqualified business case. We urge the government to expedite this investigation and end this unnecessary roadblock for our clean energy future.”

“We have said that tariffs are not the right way to increase GDP, and that it will take time and policies for the United States to move production to the required level,” Hopper said. “The countries mentioned in the petition are trusted trading partners, and we need their products, at least in the short term, as we fight for a stable and robust production presence in the United States.”