Washington plans to impose tariffs of up to 3.521% on solar panels from Southeast Asia

The tariffs affect companies located in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to the International Trade Administration (ITA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Another agency of the ministry, the International Trade Commission (ITC), must now determine by June 2 whether the subsidies granted to these companies have had an impact on their American competitors, and whether or not to impose the customs duties envisaged by the ITA.

According to the findings of an investigation launched in April 2024, "companies in each country received subsidies from the Chinese government. This is one of the first investigations in which the Ministry of Commerce has been able to demonstrate the existence of transnational subsidies," the ITA said in a statement.

On average, the proposed customs duties range from 34,41% for solar panels and cells from Malaysia to 651,85% for those from Cambodia.

But at least two Cambodian companies, Hounen Solar and Solar Long PV-Tech, are being hit with 3.521% tariffs - taxes more than 35 times the price of their products.

In total, this concerns nearly $12 billion of imported products in 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

If implemented, these tariffs would be in addition to the 10% tariff imposed since April 2 by President Donald Trump on the vast majority of products entering the United States.

They would also be added to the so-called "reciprocal" customs duties, announced the same day and suspended a week later. In the case of Vietnam, for example, this would represent an additional 38% in customs duties.

The investigation was launched in April 2024 following a petition filed by the American Solar Industry Alliance, a group of leading companies in the sector, which accused competitors based in the four Southeast Asian countries of being subsidiaries of Chinese companies and thus benefiting from subsidies from Beijing.