8/15/2017

CHINA/ENERGY [ALTERNATIVE]/TRADE DEALS: “Dozens of solar industry executives, government officials and foreign diplomats gathered here on Tuesday [8-15-17] to urge federal trade commissioners to reject a petition from two troubled domestic solar equipment manufacturers to impose steep tariffs and minimum price guarantees on similar imports.
At risk, they argued, is the future of the solar industry itself…
But Matthew J. McConkey, a lawyer for Suniva, the Georgia-based manufacturer that originally brought the petition, argued that the case was about more than two companies that managed to outlast the many manufacturers squeezed out of business by foreign competition…
The case, which follows an unusual procedure that could put the final decision about government intervention, and any remedy, directly in President Trump’s hands, could become one of the first major trade decisions of his administration. It also could determine how and whether the American solar industry can continue to grow.
At issue is whether the financial woes of Suniva and its co-petitioner, SolarWorld Americas, are a result of unfair competition from Chinese companies benefiting from state subsidies, or of their own business practices. And though the sharp drops in the cost of panels have made it difficult for domestic manufacturers to compete, they have also fueled a boom in solar development throughout the country, providing a lift to an industry that says it now has more than 250,000 jobs.
Further complicating matters is that Suniva, once lauded on the White House blog as ‘an American success story’ during the Obama administration but now in bankruptcy, is majority-owned by a Chinese company that now disavows the case.”

-Diane Cardwell, “Solar Developers and Panel Makers Clash Over Tariff Request,” The New York Times online, Aug. 15, 2017