THE United States has announced steep anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar products imported from Malaysia and three other Southeast Asian nations, following a year-long investigation into alleged unfair trade practices.
In a recent statement released by the US Department of Commerce, Malaysia will face the lowest general anti-dumping rate among the countries affected, set at 8.59%.
However, certain Malaysian-based firms that did not cooperate with US authorities during the investigation are subject to significantly higher duties — up to 81.24%.
The US Department of Commerce stated that the investigation found companies in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam had benefited from subsidies provided by China, making this one of the first countervailing duty (CVD) cases involving transnational subsidies.
“These are among the first CVD investigations where the Department of Commerce made an affirmative finding that companies received transnational subsidies,” the department said in a statement.
The move follows a complaint filed by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee in 2023, which alleged that Chinese solar firms were circumventing existing tariffs by routing products through affiliated factories in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia exported solar products worth US$1.9 billion (RM8.31 billion) to the US in 2023. The investigation found that these exports received countervailable subsidies averaging 34.41%.
Final dumping margins on imports from the other countries are far higher: Vietnam at 271.28%, Cambodia at 125.37%, and Thailand at 111.45%. The duties apply to photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into solar modules.
However, the imposition of these duties still awaits the final injury determination by the US International Trade Commission (ITC), a separate federal agency.
The ITC has until 2 June 2025 to decide whether the imports have caused material harm to the US solar industry. If it affirms the findings, the US Department of Commerce will then enforce the tariffs. April 22, 2025
