12/8/2023 update: The organizations that petitioned to initiate the antidumping/countervailing duties investigations on aluminum extrusion imports sided with SEIA’s request that solar panels using extruded aluminum should not be subject to any potential duties that could follow these investigations.
“We are pleased the petitioners are calling to exclude finished solar modules in the aluminum extrusion antidumping and countervailing duties proceedings,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA. “We’ve long said that tariffs are ineffective. The overly broad scope of these investigations would have been a financial hit to an industry that’s trying to invest in domestic manufacturing, boost installation efforts and navigate tough economic conditions. We look forward to seeing the Commerce Department confirm the petitioners’ clarification and officially revise the scope of these investigations.”
A new set of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) could affect more segments of solar manufacturing later this month. The Dept. of Commerce is considering imposing AD/CVD tariffs on aluminum extrusions imported from 15 countries, including China, Mexico, Turkey, India, Italy and South Korea.
Organizations that petitioned for the AD/CVD investigation on aluminum are the U.S. Aluminum Extrusions Coalition and the “United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union,” a coalition of 14 aluminum extruders. AD/CVD are imposed on goods that are imported below domestic market value or production cost, essentially low-balling U.S. manufacturers and causing financial harm to companies operating within a respective industry.
In solar manufacturing, aluminum is used in many structural mounts and racks as well as solar module frames. The United States once produced most of the world’s aluminum, but domestic manufacturing in recent decades has relied on aluminum imports. Law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field filed a response to the AD/CVD investigation on behalf of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), citing concerns that the investigations alone could negatively affect related manufacturing.
“If these products could be procured domestically, there are incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act for doing so, but it is our understanding that these products are not available from domestic producers. As such, imposing duties on these products would be unnecessary and harmful to clean energy production in the United States. This would run counter to the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act championed by the Biden Administration, which has encouraged unprecedented investment in expansion of solar power throughout the United States. By potentially subjecting products critical to solar infrastructure to duties, these investigations serve as a barrier to achieving these important goals,” the filing states.
In the filing, SEIA also inquired whether “finished solar panels” with aluminum frames will fall under this proposed import duty. AD/CVDs have already been imposed on Chinese-made solar panels since 2012, and Commerce recently extended those duties toward solar cells and panels being made in Southeast Asia (specifically Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam).
According to a press release published by the U.S. International Trade Commission, Commerce is expected to release initial findings from its countervailing investigation around Dec. 28 and findings from its antidumping duty investigation around March 12, 2024. The ITC is publishing a report on these investigations on Dec. 26.
This article has a couple important misstatements, which stand in the way of your readers gaining a clear picture of the current AD/CVD filings on aluminum extrusions.
First: “The United States once produced most of the world’s aluminum, but domestic manufacturing in recent decades has relied on aluminum imports.” True on the surface. Due to high energy costs in the U.S. over 90% of the aluminum metal consumed in the U.S. is imported – with most coming from Canada. However, the same is not true for aluminum extrusions – the subject of this trade issue. There is a robust network of extruders in the U.S. and Canada, with more than enough capacity to meet the demands of the market. The industry has made substantial investments in capacity and capability in recent years – adding nearly 40 presses and 1 Billion pounds of capacity since 2021.
Second: the assertion: ” our understanding that these products are not available from domestic producers” is demonstrably false. There are a number of U.S. based extruders currently supplying mounting, racking and framing to the solar industry, and there are others prepared to do so. Recently, one extruder announced a nearly $35 million capital program specifically to support the solar mounting industry.
There is no shortage of metal, extrusion capacity or willingness to support the extrusion demand for growth in solar energy. If there is a “shortage” it seems to be of unfairly traded and subsidized materials.