US dims Southeast Asia detour for China’s solar products with anti-dumping tariffs

Blocks are piling up for Chinese manufacturers seeking roundabout ways to access the United States, after Washington imposed a new round of tariffs on solar products imported from four Southeast Asian countries.

The region has become a major destination for Chinese solar firms transferring production capacity overseas in the past years, seen as an attempt to bypass US tariffs on direct imports from China.

But on Friday, the US Department of Commerce imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 271.2 per cent on solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Jiangsu-based Trina Solar, meanwhile, saw a dumping tariff of 77.85 per cent imposed on its products made in Thailand and one of 54.46 per cent on the goods it produces in Vietnam.

South Korea’s Hanwha Qcells, though, saw its new dumping margin set at zero for its production in Malaysia.