The Senate has voted to reinstate tariffs on Chinese solar panels sold out of Southeast Asia, a move President Joe Biden has pledged to veto due to the green energy industry's reliance on Chinese goods.
The resolution, introduced by Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, reverses a Biden executive order that suspended tariffs on Chinese solar products imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Nine Democrats joined 47 Republicans in support of the resolution, which allows Congress to overturn executive branch actions with a simple majority, circumventing the Senate's 60-vote filibuster rule.
The vote is a significant setback for Biden, who has opposed the measure, citing the solar industry's need to import Chinese panels. China controls over 80 percent of the world's solar panel production, leaving the industry reliant on Chinese goods as it rushes to fulfill increased demand spurred by Biden's pricey green energy subsidies. The White House has warned that Chinese solar panel tariffs would "create deep uncertainty for jobs and investments in the solar supply chain."
While Scott's resolution received some Democratic support, most Senate Democrats voted to uphold Biden's tariff suspension. Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen, up for re-election in 2024, led the charge against the tariff resolution, which she called a "job killer" that would "stall the American solar industry."
Rosen's advocacy against the measure comes months after the Democrat accepted $9,000 in campaign cash from the Solar Energy Industries Association, which counts several top Chinese solar manufacturers as members.
China has for years provided illegal subsidies to its solar energy companies, prompting the United States to begin imposing tariffs on Chinese solar panels in 2012. China quickly got around those tariffs by shifting its operations elsewherefirst to Taiwan and then to Southeast Asia.
Biden's Commerce Department in December found that four of China's top solar panel manufacturers illegally dodged U.S. tariffs through their work in the region. Still, the companies remained exempt from crippling sanctions thanks to Biden's executive order.
"The Chinese Communist Party's unfair trade practices cannot go unchecked, including illegal circumvention of U.S. trade law," Missouri Republican Congressman Jason Smith said last week after the tariff resolution passed the House. "By shipping Chinese solar products through Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, China has undercut U.S. workers and manufacturers."
The President's Chinese solar tariff suspension is expected to remain in place for nowthe White House on April 24 said Biden would veto the resolution reversing the rest, a position that has not changed.
However, bipartisan support for the tariffs means that Chinese solar companies are not yet in the clear. The solar industry is concerned that the bipartisan appetite for Chinese solar tariffs could lead to additional bills. Republicans could also introduce taxes as an amendment to an account Biden supports, one House Democratic aide warned in an interview with the Washington Post.
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