The Biden Administration announced that there will be a 24-month period which solar cells from Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam may be imported into the United States, free of antidumping or countervailing duty.
Dumping is when foreign manufacturers sell goods in the United States for less than what is deemed to be fair market value. Antidumping duty (ADD) is a tariff rate that is levied to level the playing field for U.S. industry. Antidumping cases are company specific. Therefore, known foreign manufacturers have specific case numbers and duty rates assigned. If the manufacturer does not have an individual case number, then the ‘all others’ case rate applies.
Countervailing duty (CVD) cases are similar to antidumping cases, but are established when foreign governments provide assistance, such as subsidies and tax breaks, to manufacturers that export into the U.S. market. These cases are country specific.
ADD and CVD cases are initiated when U.S. businesses file petitions with the International Trade Commission (ITC) claiming that financial injury is occurring as a result of these practices. If the ITC finds substantiating evidence, The Department of Commerce (DOC) will conduct an investigation.
If the DOC determines that either a commodity is being “dumped” into the U.S. or a foreign government is subsidizing a particular product or industry, they instruct US Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of the subject entries. Once given final instruction from the DOC, CBP liquidates the entries.
The intent of this grace period is to allow the U.S. access to a sufficient supply of solar modules while domestic manufacturing scales up.