Oregon Democrats Urge ITC to Make Affirmative Finding of Injury in Solar Safeguard Case
Five Oregon Democratic lawmakers on Aug. 17 nudged the International Trade Commission to find injury to domestic industry based on an April Suniva petition to raise tariffs and set minimum prices for solar module imports. A letter from Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Peter DeFazio to ITC Chairwoman Rhonda Schmidtlein follows an Aug. 11 letter to Schmidtlein urging a rejection of the petition (see 1708140025). “A global surge of imports has jeopardized the survival of the high-tech U.S. solar manufacturing industry, and we believe that the evidence presented, including with respect to producers in our state, supports a positive finding of injury.” Over 30 U.S. solar manufacturers have closed since 2010 because of global overcapacity and imports from countries including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and others, despite two successful U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty cases (see 1707240047), the lawmakers said.
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The Section 201 investigation will address unfair competition, “surging” imports and global overcapacity, and could save a “vital part” of the U.S.’s “technological knowhow and leadership” of the U.S. solar industry, the lawmakers wrote. “Should the ITC make an affirmative finding, we support recommending a remedy that will save and strengthen this important American manufacturing industry.”