TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Federal trade officials are recommending that the Trump administration impose a tariff of up to 35% on imported solar panels to protect U.S. solar manufacturers from low-priced foreign products that have undercut the companies’ ability to compete.
Members of the U.S. International Trade Commission outlined their various recommendations Tuesday [10-31-17], which also included import quotas and a licensing fee. They must now send them to the White House, which has until January to decide what, if any, actions to take.
The recommendations come several months after two embattled solar panel makers, Suniva Inc. and SolarWorld Americas Inc., petitioned the ITCfor a tariff on imported solar cells, the piece of equipment in a solar panel that converts sunlight to electricity. Suniva and SolarWorld had also sought either a floor price on solar modules, or a quota on imported cells and modules in order to help domestic manufacturers gain more market share.”
-Erin Ailworth, “U.S. Trade Panel Backs Solar Tariffs,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 31, 2017 02:58pm