WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2021) A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel rejected a Chinese challenge to US tariffs on solar panels and related equipment - a decision that aids Biden administration efforts to promote sources of clean energy, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.
"I welcome the WTO panel's findings rejecting China's challenges to the US solar safeguard as baseless," Tai said in a press release on Thursday. "The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring America's role in resilient clean energy supply chains... that unlock the full potential of solar power."
The United States imposed "safeguard tariffs' on Chinese solar products 2018, to help the US producers adjust to excessive Chinese solar sell and solar module exports made possible by Beijing's policy of subsidizing domestic producers, the release said.
The US tariffs were imposed after the independent US International Trade Commission (USITC) found that Chinese policies promoting exports had seriously injured American producers. A Chinese protest prompted the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel, which rejected Beijing's claim that the US tariffs violated global trade rules, the release added.
The US tariff-rate quota on imports of solar cells and a tariff on solar modules is currently set to expire on February 6, 2022, although American producers have asked the USITC to review a proposed extension, according to the release.
