Frank Asbeck, chief executive of SolarWorld, the German company with a Hillsboro factory, called on President Barack Obama Wednesday to oppose Chinese trade practices that he said threaten to destroy the U.S. solar industry.
Asbeck has made such charges before, but an open letter he sent to Obama came after federal officials opened new international trade investigations Jan. 23 into Chinese trade practices. SolarWorld requested the probes, asking U.S. Commerce Department officials to close a loophole that enables Chinese producers to evade import duties imposed in 2012 at the company’s request.
In his letter, Asbeck noted Obama’s description in his State of the Union Address of the U.S. solar industry as a global success. SolarWorld and many other companies share a vision for success of U.S. solar manufacturing, Asbeck wrote.
“Today, however, that vision stands in grave danger,” Asbeck wrote. “Illegal trade practices threaten to destroy any ongoing U.S. role in global solar-industry competition. China is improperly seizing control of an industry that the United States invented, pioneered and grew.”
SolarWorld managers say Chinese companies have avoided U.S. tariffs by exporting panels using solar cells made in other countries, mainly Taiwan, which weren’t covered by the original Commerce Department duties.
Now U.S. officials are starting a second set of antidumping-duty and countervailing-duty investigations, this time also including Taiwan. The probes will assess whether imported products are being sold in the United States below their fair value, or if foreign manufacturers receive illegal export-oriented government subsidies.
The investigations by the Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission could result in duties on more imported solar panels. The probes are supposed to be insulated from politics, meaning that Obama Administration officials can't influence the outcomes.
An opposing industry group, the Coalition for Affordable Energy, maintains that duties drive up U.S. solar installation prices, hurting the industry. Asbeck dismissed that organization in his letter as “a public-relations construct largely funded by the Chinese producers.”
Coalition President Jigar Shah issued a written statement in response Wednesday, calling Asbeck's letter bizarre and reckless.
"SolarWorld's reckless trade petition would destroy the demand for affordable solar which is creating tens of thousands of jobs per year," Shah's statement said. "It is irresponsible and frankly contrary to American interests for a German company to suggest otherwise in a letter to the president of the United States."
Chinese officials also oppose SolarWorld's trade tactics. Xinhua, China's state press agency, ran a story last month quoting experts who said the new tariffs sought by SolarWorld would entirely block Chinese solar companies from the U.S. market.
"It will keep all the Chinese companies out of the U.S. market if new duties are imposed, in addition to the already unfair trade environment," said Sun Guangbin, secretary-general for solar energy and photovoltaic products at the China Chamber of Commerce of Machinery and Electronic Products, told Xinhua.
The U.S. International Trade Commission plans to make a preliminary ruling by Feb. 14 on whether there is a reasonable indication that imports from China or Taiwan injure the U.S. solar industry.
If the commission reaches that decision, the Commerce Department is scheduled to make preliminary determinations on subsidies in March and dumping in June. The commission would have to make a final decision before any U.S. tariffs were levied.