US bill to bar ‘cheating’ Chinese solar firms could pass, but counterproductive: analysts
- American Tax Dollars for American Solar Manufacturing Act aims to prevent Chinese solar panel makers from receiving tax credits for their US factories
A proposed bill to prevent Chinese solar panel makers from receiving tax credits for their US factories could end up hurting the American photovoltaic sector, analysts said, and could be viewed as “discriminatory”.
A bipartisan group of four US senators announced the American Tax Dollars for American Solar Manufacturing Act on Wednesday, with the aim of “further strengthening American energy independence and solar manufacturing”.
“We cannot allow American tax dollars to go to Chinese companies that cheat and undermine American solar manufacturing,” Sherrod Brown, a Democratic Party senator from the US state of Ohio, said in a statement by the four lawmakers.
“Our bipartisan bill will make sure that only American companies are supported by taxpayer dollars, and support the creation of manufacturing jobs throughout the solar supply chain across Ohio.
“We will not allow the Chinese government to take down the American solar manufacturing industry.”
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The proposed bill follows the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which was introduced in August 2022 to provide direct subsidies for US-based photovoltaic products, including silicon, wafers, cells and tubes.
