The world’s ‘dumbest trade war’ is being fought over solar panels
I've thought from the beginning that these trade actions over solar are the work of ALEC and interests like coal, nuclear and the utilities.
The worlds dumbest trade war is being fought over solar panels
February 20, 2014, 2:18 PM
By Claudia Assis
The worlds dumbest trade war is the spat between the U.S. and China over solar panels, according to an article on Slate. But its not just dumb: it could threaten the future of solar power, the online magazine says.
Cheap and plentiful solar panels from China have fueled the boom in rooftop solar systems. But now that the U.S. is threatening to slap new tariffs on them, China could retaliate by slapping more duties on U.S. manufactured polysilicon, a key component of the panels, the article says.
It all started when the U.S. division of Germanys SolarWorld AG started lobbying the federal government for an investigation on alleged duty evasion. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce followed with a call to stop the probe, asking the U.S. government to be prudent in taking any further measures.
On Friday, the International Trade Commission voted to proceed with the probe. The ITC and the Commerce Department are running parallel investigations into solar imports from China and Taiwan, out of concern Chinese makers could be evading duties by assembling solar modules from cells made in other countries.
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Even supposed beneficiaries First Solar Inc. FSLR and SunPower Corp. SPWR would not reap that many benefits, the analysts said...
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/energy-ticker/2014/02/20/the-worlds-dumbest-trade-war-is-being-fought-over-solar-panels/