US finalises steep duties on Indian, Indonesian and Laos solar imports

Washington,UPDATED: Sep 12, 2026 19:06 IST

The United States has finalised high anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of solar cells and panels from India, Indonesia and Laos, saying producers and exporters from these countries benefited from unfair government subsidies and hurt American industry.

In its final affirmative findings announced on Friday, the US Department of Commerce said the investigations covered crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from the three countries. The case will now move to the US Trade Commission, which will decide within the next 45 days whether the subsidised imports caused injury to the US industry.

The Department of Commerce fixed anti-dumping margins at 123.04 per cent for Indian producers, 94.36 per cent for Indonesian producers and 65.43 per cent for producers from Laos. It also set countervailing duty rates at 126.09 per cent for Indian producers, between 73.2 per cent and 173.7 per cent for Indonesian producers, and between 82.03 per cent and 153.67 per cent for Laos producers.

The action followed a petition by The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, which sought investigations into alleged illegal trade practices by largely Chinese-owned manufacturers operating in Laos and Indonesia, as well as companies headquartered in India.

The USITC will now examine whether the subsidised imports harmed the US industry, with its final injury vote expected on October 14. If the commission gives an affirmative final determination, the Department of Commerce will issue anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders by November 2 based on the rates announced on Friday. If the USITC gives a negative determination, the investigation will be terminated.

In a statement, The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade said, "These determinations confirm that producers and exporters from these countries have been dumping solar products into the US market at unfairly low prices and have benefited from countervailable subsidies, causing material injury to the domestic solar manufacturing industry." The findings mark the latest step in the US process on the solar imports, with the final outcome now resting on the USITC's injury decision.

With PTI Inputs

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