SolarWorld seeks higher duties on China solar products in court

Sep 6, 2013 - The US arm of German SolarWorld AG (ETR:SWV) has lodged appeals with the Court of International Trade in New York against certain federal trade rulings in an effort to boost duties on Chinese solar product exports to the US.

The solar products maker said Thursday it had challenged US Department of Commerce’s determinations that, according to SolarWorld, undervalued aluminum frames used in China made-solar panels and thus led to understated anti-dumping tariffs. SolarWorld also argues that many Chinese producers “failed to show they were free of Chinese government ownership and control” so they should have received the highest duties instead of “separate” anti-dumping tariffs.

“We are exhausting all avenues to engage well-established international trade law in countering China’s illegal trade aggression, which continues to siphon clean-energy business and jobs from the US economy,” commented Gordon Brinser, the president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc.

In 2011 SolarWorld filed a trade case with the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing against Chinese solar imports in the US. The case resulted in the imposition of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties reaching 250% on imports of Chinese crystalline silicon solar cells to the US. The company is also appealing a ruling of the Court of International Trade that created a loophole which allowed Chinese firms to avoid the duties by assembling panels from solar cells made outside China.

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