U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) this afternoon praised an announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce that it was opening an investigation into evidence of rampant trade violations by Chinese solar energy companies. The announcement follows call by Pascrell to crackdown on trade and energy malfeasance by the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese entities.

“Today’s announcement by the Commerce Department again makes clear the Biden administration is taking seriously the rampage of the Chinese government’s cheating in trade and energy, among many areas,” said Rep. Pascrell. “It has been 20 years since we regrettably allowed China to enter the World Trade Organization. Today the Chinese Communist Party is using that to break the rules at every turn. We cannot have fair trade if one side is lying and cheating. I was proud to lead a bipartisan effort in the House to ensure this case received full and fair consideration. I am encouraged the Biden Administration is not letting Chicken Little’s with their hyperbolic and hysterical rhetoric about the impacts case continue to undermine our domestic manufacturing goals, trade remedy laws, and efforts to have an untainted domestic supply chain for solar manufacturing. The Biden administration must be relentless in stopping the Chinese government’s bad acts and bad acts by Chinese companies and their accomplices. This is a good start.”

On March 15, 2022, Pascrell led 14 House Democrats and Republicans “encourage[ing] the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to fully and fairly examine allegations that Chinese solar companies are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) lawfully imposed on Chinese solar cells and modules.”

In 2012, the Department of Commerce affirmatively found that imports of certain solar cells and modules from China were unfairly subsidized and sold below market value, and the U.S. International Trade Commission subsequently determined that these imports materially injured domestic producers.

On February 8, 2022, Auxin Solar, a U.S. manufacturer of crystalline solar photovoltaic modules, filed a request with Commerce Department to investigate solar cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam that allegedly thwart AD/CVD duties. The petition alleges that Chinese solar companies have established affiliated operations in these countries to avoid paying the required AD/CVD duties. The petitioners allege that nearly all the subsidized supply chain, labor, research and development, and investment remain nested in China.