As a key member of the global photovoltaic industry, Trina Solar Limited (“Trina Solar” or the “company”), a global leader in photovoltaic (“PV”) modules, solutions, and services, is resolutely opposed to the U.S. Section 201 investigations and the follow-up harsh tariff measures on imported photovoltaic products. It is an abuse of trade remedies measures. The measures not only give rise to concerns from various trade partners, but are opposed by many U.S. local governments and downstream businesses. The U.S. action will not only damages healthy and balanced development of the U.S. PV industry, but also deteriorates the global trade of PV products.
In recent years, the technology advances and minimized costs promoted and led by Chinese PV manufacturers have played a significant role in the rapid development of U.S. commercial and residential power plant projects that reach grid parity. A number of outstanding Chinese PV manufacturers including Trina Solar have delivered high quality PV products and solutions to consumers of the U.S. market. Nevertheless, the rising price contributed by the tariffs against imported PV products will seriously impact the investment and project construction in the U.S., which ultimately harms U.S. local businesses and consumers. In the long term, the measures will cause grave consequences to the application of photovoltaic energy in the U.S., especially California, Nevada, Texas, and other key PV application regions. Furthermore, the international competition capabilities of U.S. local PV industry will be weakened.
The price advantage of Chinese PV manufacturers is mainly dependent on minimized cost which is contributed by constant technological innovation. Under the diligent efforts of Chinese companies such as Trina Solar, grid parity is reached in some regions and emerging non-subsidy markets such as the Middle East and Latin America have also begun to rise. Global PV development is an inevitable future trend.
Frequent and excessive trade protection not only does no remedy on relevant industries, but will cause damage to balanced economic development. As the global PV industry leader, Trina solar urge the U.S. government to avoid taking trade limited measures, abide by multilateral trade rules to play an active role in promoting global economic development. We resolutely request that both Chinese and the U.S. governments conduct conversations in a timely manner to search for solutions and settlement for the sake of mutual benefit.
No matter how harsh and complex the international trade environment is, Trina Solar will make unremitting efforts to promote global sustainable development and combat climate change through delivering high quality PV products, applications and services.
