USTR Exempts More Solar Products From Section 201 Safeguards; SunPower Expected to Benefit

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative approved multiple categories of solar cells for exclusion from the Section 201 safeguards, it said in a notice. Seven new categories of solar cells with specific wattages, size and other characteristics will be excluded from the safeguard measures starting Sept. 19, it said. The agency received a total of 48 product exclusion requests, it said. The Section 201 tariffs were announced at the beginning of the year on solar cells and residential washing machines (see 1801230052). An exemption was "specifically written" for SunPower's "solar cells and modules based on copper-plated [interdigitated back contact (IBC)] technology," a Bank of America stock analyst said in a Sept. 18 research report. "The exemption is not applied retroactively, likely maintaining" about $68 million in "negative impact experienced in 2018 with tariffs already paid on imported modules."