Washington has expanded its trade dispute with China by imposing high tariffs on solar imports from four Southeast Asian countries where Chinese manufacturers have established factories in recent years.
Tariffs of up to 3,521 percent on solar cell imports from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia would make the products practically unaffordable for US consumers. The decision follows a one-year investigation by the US Department of Commerce, in which US manufacturers claimed that Chinese companies in these countries were importing solar cells and panels to the US at artificially low prices.
China has become the main target in a trade war that Washington initiated this year due to what it believes are unfair trade practices by most of its partners, including many of the US’s allies. The reciprocal tariff reactions of the White House and Beijing threaten to bring a large part of the trade between the world’s two largest economies to a standstill.
The tariffs announced on Monday illustrate the concern in the United States that China could circumvent the imposition of punitive tariffs by increasing exports from a global network of factories that it has built up in recent years.
The new tariffs reflect the findings of the US Department of Commerce that some Chinese manufacturers had shipped solar products through Southeast Asian countries to circumvent tariffs imposed in the past.
In 2024, the Biden administration issued preliminary decisions on setting compensatory tariffs on solar modules and cells manufactured in the four Southeast Asian countries, which ranged from 1 to 300 percent. The new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration apply to several companies in Southeast Asia. Some manufacturers in Cambodia face tariffs of more than 3,500 percent.