Biden waives tariffs on Asian solar modules

Low domestic production capacity means imports from Asia will be critical to US solar growth

US president Joe Biden has waived import tariffs on solar panels and modules from Southeast Asia for up to two years to help combat an acute shortage of components amid rising prices. In his declaration, Biden notes that c.75pc of solar modules imported into the US come from Southeast Asia and that “roughly half of the domestic deployment of solar modules that had been anticipated over the next year is currently in jeopardy as a result of insufficient supply”. The previous Trump administration imposed tariffs in 2018 on all silicon PV imports for four years to protect domestic manufacturing. Before that, the Obama administration introduced tariffs on Chinese solar module imports in 2012. The