President Joe Biden extended tariffs on some imported solar equipment last week, while easing some restrictions.
The Trump administration first imposed a 30% tariff in 2018 after two U.S.-based solar manufacturers complained they experienced “injury” due to cheap solar panel imports, according to the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
The administration hoped the tariff, which was put in place for four years and declined to 15% in 2021, would increase domestic manufacturing.
In November, the U.S. International Trade Commission determined the tariff was still necessary to prevent “serious injury” to the U.S. industry, and Biden agreed.
On Friday, Biden extended the tariff for another four years, setting it at 14.75% for this year.
“I have determined that an extension of this safeguard measure will provide greater economic and social benefits than costs,” Biden said in a White House statement.
Opponents have argued the tariff is harmful to America’s clean energy economy by hindering domestic solar projects and increasing costs, while failing to incentivize domestic manufacturing.
As a result of the tariff, domestic prices for solar panels are some of the highest in the world, and clean energy jobs in the U.S. have decreased, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said.
A bipartisan group of senators led by Rosen urged Biden to end the tariffs.
They were successful in advocating that bifacial panels, which produce solar energy from both sides of the panel and are common in large-scale projects, be exempt from the tariff.
Biden also doubled the amount of solar cells that can be imported into the U.S. tariff-free from 2.5 to 5 gigawatts.
Rosen said the U.S. should be making forward-thinking investments in domestic solar manufacturing and provide long-term federal support for the industry.
“The overall decision to extend these harmful tariffs is disappointing and remains the wrong approach,” she said in a statement.
The solar tariffs have led to the loss of more than 62,000 clean energy jobs in U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Nevada has the largest solar economy and the most solar jobs per capita in the country, Rosen said.
“I will continue working to strengthen solar industry jobs in Nevada and across the country by boosting American manufacturing and fighting to end these misguided solar tariffs, including through legislation,” Rosen said.
Domestic production of solar panels only meets 15% of the U.S. demand, and almost 90% of workers in the U.S. solar industry work in nonmanufacturing jobs and rely on the availability of affordable solar panels, Rosen's office said.
Katherine Gensler, vice president of government affairs and marketing for Arevon Energy, a solar company that recently completed a 180-megawatt solar project called Townsite in Boulder City, said the company uses a variety of suppliers, both domestic and foreign.
But the supply of domestic solar equipment falls short of what the company needs, Gensler said. “We absolutely need to grow the domestic supply chain for solar components," she said.
Biden set a goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, and some organizations are worried the solar tariffs will hinder Biden’s ability to meet that goal.
The Niskanen Center, a nonpartisan think tank, says the tariffs will slow solar energy growth.
“Maintaining the solar tariffs will also risk more tit-for-tat tariffs in the clean energy sector from the U.S.’s trading partners,” the center said.
But the American Clean Power Association, which represents installers and manufacturers in the U.S., applauded Biden’s decision, calling it “a win for jobs and a win for the president’s climate agenda.”