Commerce Department Again Delays Chinese Solar Imports Decision
Commerce Department Again Delays Chinese Solar Imports Decision
January 29, 2012, 7:04 PM EST
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By William McQuillen
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Commerce Department said it has again delayed its decision on additional tariffs for Chinese solar-equipment imports.
A preliminary determination will be made on March 2, Tim Truman, a department spokesman, said today. The decision had been scheduled for Feb. 13.
The delay allows Commerce “sufficient time to conduct a comprehensive investigation and to complete a thorough and fair analysis of the subsidies at issue,” Gordon Brinser, the president of SolarWorld AG’s U.S. unit, said in a statement issued by the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.
U.S. solar-equipment manufacturers say they are being harmed because China’s government uses cash grants, discounts on raw materials, preferential loans and tax incentives, and manipulates its currency to boost exports of solar cells. SolarWorld, a maker of solar modules, filed a complaint Oct. 19 with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department, seeking duties to offset the practices.
The trade commission on Dec. 2 said the Chinese subsidies have harmed equipment makers, ruling on the petition by Bonn- based SolarWorld seeking antidumping and countervailing duties.
The commission is investigating possible economic harm to SolarWorld from Chinese imports, while the department determines the penalty for companies that illegally dump products.
--Editor: Jon Morgan, Daniel Enoch.
To contact the reporter on this story: William McQuillen in Washington at bmcquillen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
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