Solar Cell Coalition May Refile Anti-Circumvention Request After Anonymity Rejected by Commerce

A coalition of anonymous solar companies is “evaluating all options” following the denial of its requests to apply antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar cells to imports from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, it said Nov. 15. The American Solar Manufacturers Against Chinese Circumvention (A-SMACC) said it “strongly” disagrees with the Commerce Department’s rejection of its request for an anti-circumvention inquiry, on the basis that the coalition’s members could not remain anonymous.

“The U.S. Government is well aware of the real risk of retaliation that A-SMACC members, like all U.S. companies, face from the Chinese government and Chinese competitors,” the coalition said. “It is unfortunate that we are being forced to choose between revealing our identities and exercising our trade remedy rights.”

One of the options under consideration by the A-SMACC is “refiling a petition satisfying the Commerce Department’s concerns,” though the group is also considering other options “under the trade remedy and other laws,” it said. “We urge the Commerce Department and the Administration to also consider all options to address unfair trade in the solar energy sector, including but not limited to self-initiation of further circumvention actions and trade cases.”

The Solar Energy Industries Association applauded the rejection of the A-SMACC’s anti-circumvention request shortly after it was announced Nov. 10. “The petitions have already had a chilling effect on the industry’s supply chain, and if imposed, we would have seen massive project cancellations and job losses within days,” the trade group said.