Skip to content

China to file WTO complaint over Section 201 duties

Share

China’s Ministry of Commerce intends to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the 30% import tariffs imposed by the United States on imported solar products, including those from China, according to a Chinese government spokesman on Tuesday. However, on Wednesday morning no official complaint document from China had been published on the WTO website.

The Chinese government has asserted that the protection measures imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump at the beginning of this year under Section 201 do not comply with international WTO rules. The duties are also harming the interests of the Chinese economy, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing.

In addition to protective measures against imported PV products, China claims the U.S. has provided support for the domestic production of components for renewable energies and solar PV. The country’s economy has thus gained an “unfair competitive advantage and damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese renewable energy companies,” the spokesman said.

With the introduction of tariffs, the United States has “heavily distorted” the international PV market and “seriously damaged” China’s trade interests, they said. Therefore, the country now wants to reach a dispute settlement at the WTO. China called on the United States to take concrete action to reinstate WTO rules, the Ministry of Commerce spokesman said.

It is important to note that the global nature of these tariffs affects production in Southeast Asia, where many Chinese PV makers have set up factories to avoid previous rounds of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

At the end of January, the United States decided to impose tariffs on nearly all imported PV modules and solar cells. This was preceded by a Section 201 petition from Suniva, which Solarworld Americas subsequently joined. Under the ruling, these duties will be gradually reduced over the next four years. Exceptions apply to some countries, and the United States is allowing the first 2.5 GW of cells to be imported without customs duties.

Since then, the trade conflict has deepened, particularly between the United States and China. For example, Trump has announced further tariffs on Chinese solar cells and modules, as well as inverters.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Are California’s electricity prices rising because customers are installing solar panels?
08 November 2024 Electricity rates are rising in California. Utilities say rooftop solar is to blame. Grid expert and economist-at-large Ahmad Faruqui comments.

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.

Welcome to pv magazine USA. This site uses cookies. Read our policy.

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close