U.S.-China Solar Fight Lurches Forward
If last week’s news that the U.S. Department of Commerce was imposing new duties on Chinese solar imports left you with a bad case of déjà vu, or at least wondering if the story would ever end, that’s understandable. It’s been a long-running melodrama.
Oregon-based SolarWorld Industries America, a division of the German company SolarWorld, got it all going in October 2011. Drowning in a wave of cheap Chinese solar panels, it brought allegations of illegal dumping and state subsidies to U.S. trade authorities. Many hard-to-distinguish rulings have followed, reflecting the careful, bureaucratic manner in which such trade claims proceed – as well as SolarWorld’s persistence in making duties air-tight.
Through all the machinations, one thing has remained clear: To the dismay of
