China Solar Firm Says US Should End Solar Tariffs For Its Own Good

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The US should scrap decade-old import tariffs on solar power equipment after years of protectionism has failed to boost its domestic manufacturing base, according to the chairman of a top Chinese clean energy firm.

Easing such measures will allow more technology sharing, and will also help the US speed up its shift away from fossil fuels, Tongwei Group chairman Liu Hanyuan said in an interview on Wednesday.

“We hope US politicians can be at peace with opening the market,” Liu said in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative meeting, the National People’s Congress.

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Trade disputes over clean energy have existed for more than a decade. The US slapped anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels in 2012, and Beijing responded with tariffs on US and South Korean polysilicon the following year.

But the results of the tariffs were vastly different, as Chinese companies took advantage to dominate the global solar supply chain. Meanwhile the US faces some of the highest capital costs for solar panels in the world because they can’t directly import from China without the duties, according to data from BloombergNEF.

Tongwei, one of the world’s largest producers of polysilicon and solar cells, has explored investment in overseas manufacturing including in the US, but found many countries are not profitable because of a lack of supply chain support, Liu said. The company will invest in countries such as the US when conditions improve, he said.