US slaps punitive tariffs on (Chinese-made) solar imports from ASEAN countries

Washington is renewing its assault on Chinese solar supply chains.

On Friday, the US Commerce Department announced preliminary anti-dumping tariffs on imported solar modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

• The final determinations are expected by June 2025.

Some context: Chinese module imports to the US are subject to punitive anti-dumping and countervailing duty tariffs. 

• China’s leading manufacturers established large-scale production facilities in the above-listed countries during the 2010s to bypass tariffs and continue exporting to the US, allowing them to maintain dominance in the market.

More context: Generous tax credits under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act are driving a solar manufacturing boom in the US.

• The push for greater self-sufficiency could gradually enable the US to decouple from Chinese supply chains without excessively disrupting domestic installation efforts.

The preliminary US tariffs vary significantly by country and company, ranging from 0% to 271.3%.

• However, they will hit China’s four largest manufacturers hard, with average rates exceeding 50%.

Get smart: Sky-high tariffs will erode the significant cost advantages of Southeast Asian-manufactured modules over US-made alternatives.

• Chinese manufacturers face the difficult choice of shutting down production or securing sufficiently large alternative export markets to replace the US – an unlikely outcome in the near term.

Get smarter: Chinese cleantech manufacturers’ dependence on mature Western markets is turning into a growing liability as protectionism rises in the EU and US.

• In response, China will increasingly focus on diversifying export markets and boosting demand in the Global South in the coming years.