On January 22, 2018 the Trump administration imposed a tariff on solar panels. The tariffs are 30 percent in yr one, declining to 25 percent in yr two, 20 percent in yr three and 15 percent in yr 4.
The Canadian government announced victory over a solar safeguard dispute under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
In 2018, Trump introduced Section 201 tariffs on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) modules to the U.S., including Canada.
This happened whatever the U.S. International Trade Commission’s explicit ruling that imports from Canada didn’t meet the usual for inclusion under article 802.1 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The U.S. initially used a loophole in NAFTA to delay the arising dispute but after the brand new trilateral pact took effect, Canada was capable of kick-start a CUSMA dispute settlement process in late 2020 after which file a request for the creation of a panel on June 18, 2021.
The CUSMA panel took jurisdiction over the dispute after dismissing the U.S.’ claim that the matter must have been challenged under NAFTA, which isn’t any longer in force.
It was determined that the U.S. had made a few violations of the free trade agreement by “failing to exclude imports from Canada from its solar safeguard measure” and by “impermissibly increasing tariffs on imports of solar products from Canada.”
The panel agreed with the stance that imports from Canada didn’t represent a “substantial share” of total imports into the US and that they might not have “contributed importantly” to any serious economic injury to US solar product makers.
Now, the U.S. has 45 days to seal a cope with Canada and resolve the dispute.
In early February 2022, President Biden issued a proclamation to increase the safeguard measure for a further 4 years. On the time he instructed the U.S. Trade Representative to barter a suspension of the safeguard measure with Canada.
The CUSMA panel identified that only a full exclusion for imports from Canada would make sure that the U.S. has achieved compliance with its obligations under the trilateral pact.
“We welcome the USA’ intention to pursue a resolution with Canada and Mexico, as indicated by the President in his recent announcement. […] Canada will work toward the entire removal of those unjustified tariffs,” commented Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development.
In line with a statement by the minister, exports of solar products from Canada to the U.S. have plunged by as much as 82% for the reason that imposition of the tariffs.
Canadian solar panel manufacturers Silfab Solar and Heliene stand to achieve probably the most from this decision.
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This text was written by the team at Renewables Now.
It’s published here via partnership.
