Backed by the support of six of its peers and a powerhouse D.C. law firm, manufacturer SolarWorld today filed cases with the U.S. Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission, alleging that Chinese cell and module makers have been illegally dumping products into the U.S. market.
A company statement explains that the complaints are intended to ‘end China's decimation of U.S. solar manufacturing and jobs.’
SolarWorld and the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing say gargantuan state-funded subsidies have given Chinese solar manufacturers an unfair advantage in the marketplace, with ‘dumping margins well in excess of 100 percent.’
‘Central planning has subsidized most facets of these companies' businesses,’ Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., said in a statement. ‘China actually has no production cost advantage. China's labor is less productive, its raw material and equipment have come from the West, and China must pay for long-distance shipping. Yet massive state subsidies and sponsorship have enabled Chinese manufacturers to illegally dump their products into a wide-open U.S. market.’
Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, released a statement noting that all stakeholders must do business ‘within the framework of internationally negotiated trade rules.’
‘The bottom line is that these investigations provide a legitimate, transparent mechanism for resolving trade disputes and determining what – if any – unfair practices have occurred,’ he said.
Law firm Wiley Rein LLP is representing the coalition in the petitions. The six members joining SolarWorld in the anti-dumping and countervailing-duty filings will not be publicly named, the company says.
