A group of U.S. solar panel manufacturers asked the Commerce Department on Thursday to impose tariffs on imports from Indonesia, India and Laos, accusing companies there of dumping cheap goods in the market to undercut new American factories.
The petition is the latest effort by the small U.S. solar manufacturing industry to seek trade relief to protect billions of dollars of recent investment and compete with goods produced mainly by Chinese companies overseas.
The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, which filed the petition, includes Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar, Qcells, the solar division of Korea’s Hanwha, and private companies Talon PV and Mission Solar.
The group has succeeded previously in winning tariffs on imports from countries in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
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