The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has hit out at the US Department of Commerce’s decision to investigate circumvention tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
ACORE president and chief executive officer Gregory Wetstone said: “Today’s decision by the Department of Commerce will upend the renewable energy industry at the worst possible time.
“Congress has yet to enact a long-term, full-value clean energy tax package, and the agency’s trade investigation creates uncertainty that will chill new investment and cause layoffs in the nation’s solar energy sector.”
“At a time when the renewable energy industry is working incredibly hard to accelerate deployment to meet the Biden Administration’s climate goals and avert the worst impacts of climate change, we need the federal government working in partnership with an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
Wetstone said that the investigation would only act to needlessly slow economic growth, raise US energy costs and impose greater risks on the climate.
He added that ACORE is now urging the Department of Commerce to end the investigation and reject the expansion of US solar tariffs.