To boost solar, Biden looks the other way on potential Chinese trade violations
Author: Josh Lederman
Facing paralysis of the U.S. solar industry, President Joe Biden has ordered that potential trade violations by Chinese solar panel manufacturers go unpunished for the next two years, sidestepping a law Congress passed to protect U.S. workers. Senior Biden administration officials described the move to suspend the tariffs as creating a “bridge” - temporarily allowing cheap foreign solar panels to flood into the U.S. to speed the transition to clean energy, while using those two years to ramp up a fledgling U.S. solar manufacturing industry. The move brings to an abrupt, unexpected end a growing fight over the tariffs, with solar panel installers and climate activists accusing the Commerce Department of nearly incapacitating an industry that’s critical to the Biden administration’s goal of producing only clean electricity by 2035.