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Congress Clashes With Biden Over Tariffs on Illegal Chinese Solar Panels

The Senate on Wednesday voted to reinstate tariffs on solar panels from Chinese companies in Southeast Asia that were found to be brought into the United States in violation of trade rules.

measurespassed by a vote of 56 to 41 and had already been approved by the House of Representatives. It sets up a showdown with the Biden administration, which has temporarily suspended tariffs as the country seeks to ensure an adequate supply of solar panels in its fight against climate change.

President Biden has said he will veto the bill, requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress to invalidate him.

But the measure, which was supported by several leading Democrats, was a notable denunciation of the Biden administration’s actions. Critics say Mr. Biden’s decision not to impose tariffs on Chinese solar makers violated U.S. trade rules and failed to protect U.S. workers.

“This vote was a simple choice: Do you support American manufacturers and American workers, or do you support China?” Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said in a statement. “Now we are sending a clear message that we must level the playing field for workers and manufacturers in Ohio and across the nation.”

At the heart of the dispute is whether certain solar imports were brought into the United States at unfairly low prices. In December, a U.S. trade court ruled that four Chinese companies illegally tried to evade U.S. tariffs on solar products shipped from China by shipping their products through factories in Southeast Asia.

Generally, companies found to evade US tariffs are subject to higher tariff rates when bringing their products into the US. But in June, Mr. Biden took the unusual step of suspending tariffs for two years.

The delay was backed by solar panel importers and project installers, who argued that tariffs should be suspended for even longer.

Abigail Ross Hopper, chief executive of the Solar Energy Industry Association, said in a statement that legislators were “from companies that invest billions of dollars and employ thousands of people across the state. We voted to withdraw the rug,” he said.

“Holding supplies at this critical time hurts American businesses and prevents them from deploying clean, reliable energy in the near future,” she said.

But some prominent Democrats say the president’s decision violates U.S. trade rules designed to protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair foreign competition. Republicans also criticized Mr. Biden for being weak on China, spotlighting forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and its ties to China’s solar power industry.

Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee, who drafted the House bill, said, “We must hold accountable those who violate US trade laws, including those of China.” “Failure to enforce trade laws hurts businesses and workers in Michigan and America.”

The Biden administration has taken steps to limit US dependence on China, including heavy investments to boost US manufacturing of solar panels, semiconductors and car batteries. .

But the White House considers climate change mitigation one of its top priorities, and officials say the United States will buy most of its solar-to-solar cells and panels from China in the near future. Insists that it needs to go on.Electricity.

In a statement on April 24, the White House said it strongly opposed the Congressional resolution and said the president would reject it if it passed.

“The administration is working aggressively to support domestic solar panel manufacturing,” the White House statement said, adding, “However, these investments will take time to ramp up production. , access to affordable and clean electricity.”

For Republicans and Democrats in Congress, tougher measures against China have become one of the rare areas of bipartisan agreement, with lawmakers banding together to demand tougher trade penalties and the chief executive of TikTok, the Chinese-owned app. The person is being severely pursued.

Senate Democrats on Monday announced they would introduce legislation to maintain U.S. economic leadership over China, building on previous legislation to subsidize the semiconductor industry. is preparing to launch an investigation into its possible links to forced labor. Adidas, Nike, Shane and Temu are expected to be the commission’s first targets, according to people familiar with the plan.

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