Workers are seen at a project with an annual output of 10 gigawatts of high-efficiency solar cells in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province on March 18, 2024. China's installed solar power generation capacity rose by 55.2 percent in 2023, data released by the National Energy Agency showed. Photo: cnsphoto

Chinese companies said they will continue to engage in expanding their global presence despite the US decision to reinstate tariffs on solar products from four Southeast Asian countries. Meanwhile, Chinese experts criticized the US solar tariff decision as counter-productive and one that would backfire.

Starting Thursday, solar imports from four Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam will be subject to tariffs, according to a White House statement. Tariff rate on solar cells, whether or not assembled into modules, would increase from 25 percent to 50 percent in 2024, it said.

The move is part of the Biden administration's plan to revise the Trump era tariffs, known as "Section 301 tariffs," which is believed to target China's strategic industries such as the PV industry. 

A two-year reprieve for certain solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam will end Thursday, and the US also plans to swiftly end an exemption on two-sided, or bifacial, solar modules, the Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

One day earlier, Chinese solar firms including LONGi Green Energy Technology Co and Trina Solar Co, are reportedly to halt production at Southeast Asian factories as increased US trade barriers create uncertainties for exports from the region.

LONGi said in a note sent to the Global Times on Thursday that, the company is making upgrades across multiple sites to deploy next generation solar photovoltaic technology and digital systems, in response to "unverified information" that the company has reportedly started to reduce operations at a plant in Malaysia and had previously stopped production at a facility in Vietnam.

Despite challenges brought by falling prices, evolving technology and trade policy movement, "we will remain optimistic about the long-term prospect of the solar PV industry and will continue to invest in our people, innovation and new manufacturing system," LONGi added.

Another Chinese company has confirmed that it was winding down capacity in Thailand and Vietnam, citing annual maintenance for the move. The company will adjust production based on industry and market conditions, a spokesperson from the Trina Solar said, according to jiemian.com.

Over the long term, we will improve its competitiveness in overseas markets and respond to international trade risks with a broader and deeper global layout and localized operations, it said. 

China's PV industry boasts the most complete supply chain in the world, and the move of the US will have little or even no impact on China's PV industry, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Any bullying action by the US will be countered as its solar industry is heavily reliant on imports from Southeast Asia. The unilateral imposition of tariffs could result in a significant price surge in the American market and may also hinder its own energy transition, causing significant damage to US energy companies and the industrial chain, according to Cong.

Imports from Southeast Asian countries totaled $460 million, accounting for 70 percent of the total US imports of PV cells, data from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electric Products showed.

The so-called China's unfair trade practices, including "flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports" are just excuses fabricated by US politicians. It is American workers and businesses that will ultimately pay the price, experts said.