The biggest trade battle between China and the European Union has taken an unexpected twist. More than a thousand European solar panel companies and their customers are coming to the defense of their Chinese counterparts. They’ve signed a petition urging the EU not to slap import duties on Chinese made solar panels.
It all began last year when a group of German solar panel companies pushed the European Commission to hit Chinese panel and parts imports with tariffs over allegations they were being sold below the cost of production, known as dumping. Up to eight thousand European jobs were said to be at stake, and it quickly escalated into a major trade row.
Now more than 1,000 European firms and consumers have fired back with an open letter to the European Trade Commissioner warning import duties would be economically and environmentally disastrous for Europe.
Europe’s Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy says the tariffs threaten the EU’s photovoltaic industry chain including installers, traders and importers who currently rely on inexpensive Chinese parts and panels.
Paulette Vander Schueren, partner at Mayer Brown who represents AFASE, said, “Along the PV value chain you have 260,000 jobs at stake.”
Paulette Vander Schueren says many emissions-conscious consumers also added their names to the letter. He said, “Duties would be a set back for the growth of solar energy and for the achievement of the renewable energy targets.”
With the European Commission’s investigation in its final months the industry is getting nervous.
Expectations that the commission will slap tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports grew last month when it ordered customs agents to begin registering imports with the idea of retroactively applied tariffs. The commission has tried to play down the move.
European Commission spokesperson John Clance said, “It’s a bureaucratic procedure and I hate to use that term “bureaucratic”, but it’s absolutely the term to use in this instance.”
Europe’s photovoltaic industry sees it differently. As Paulette Vander Schueren said, it is “pure chaos and panic. Companies realize that duties are coming very close and nearby and therefore started reacting, because they understood their livelihoods are at stake.”
The commission has not yet commented on the letter. June 6 is the deadline for a tariff decision and so the European Commission enters the final faze of its anti-dumping probe, knowing it now faces growing anger both abroad and at home.
Post time: Feb-08-2017