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By Dan Murtaugh
Chinese solar companies will go to great lengths to reach the US market: 20,000 miles in at least one case.
As detailed in this story, Chinese firms sent polysilicon wafers made on the mainland to Kenya and Nigeria, where they were wired into solar cells. Those were then shipped to Indonesia where they were pieced together into modules and marketed to the US as being of African origin, thus avoiding tariffs on Chinese and Indonesian solar imports.
The White House’s frustration with manufacturers’ ability to stay a step ahead of US trade laws finally boiled over earlier this month, when President Donald Trump announced a plan to target solar imports regardless of where they come from.
Equipment made outside the US will be subject to minimum prices all along the supply chain, from pure polysilicon to wafers to cells to finished modules. There will also be an additional tariff.
While that may be enough to put a stop to the catch-me-if-you-can game played by foreign suppliers, it remains to be seen whether it will be sufficient to help rebuild US solar manufacturing.
Trump’s new rules do include carrots for domestic producers along with sticks. Companies that commit to building new factories can keep importing equipment without the penalties.
But the president is also partially responsible for one of the biggest deterrents to investment in a US supply chain. American energy policy has whipsawed over the past decade, with the current administration favoring fossil fuels, making it difficult for manufacturers to gauge future demand.
Even if US firms do build solar plants, their products will almost certainly be more expensive and less advanced than those the rest of the world is receiving from Chinese companies.
In a world that desperately needs more power for growing fleets of electric vehicles and a surge in AI data centers, it’s a risky bet. US solar manufacturing needs to take such a giant leap for it to pay off that it will make 20,000 miles look like a short hop.
—Dan Murtaugh, Bloomberg News
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