U.S. moves toward tariffs on Asia solar panels after trade panel vote

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted Friday to begin anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations into certain solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, a step that could result in the imposition of new tariffs.

The vote marks the first of four major steps in the review of petitions by manufacturers that allege the imports are being sold at prices below the cost of production and unfairly benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies, including from Chinese government entities.

In its preliminary determination, the ITC found there was “a reasonable indication of material injury” to U.S. solar manufacturers.

The vote was the latest step in a trade petition brought by an alliance of seven U.S. solar manufacturers, including First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) and QCells.

Most solar stocks fell sharply in Friday’s trading, including Enphase Energy (ENPH) -7.2%, Sunrun (RUN) -6.8%, Sunnova Energy (NOVA) -5.7%, Daqo New Energy (DQ) -5.5%, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) -5.1%, SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) -4.2%, SunPower (SPWR) -4.2%, JinkoSolar (JKS) -4.1%, First Solar (FSLR) -2.2%.

Other alternative energy names also posted losses, such as TPI Composites (TPIC) -8.4%, FuelCell Energy (FCEL) -5.5%, Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) -4.2%, Plug Power (PLUG) -3.3%, Bloom Energy (BE) -3.3%.

The vote clears the way for the U.S. Commerce Department to continue its probe into whether the foreign producers are in fact dumping their solar equipment and getting illegal government support, en route to the possible collection of preliminary duties as soon as July.