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President Biden vetoed legislation on Tuesday that would have rolled back tariffs on solar panels from Chinese companies in Southeast Asia found to be imported into the United States in violation of trade rules.
The Senate narrowed the resolution this month, with some key Democrats backing the measure, in a sharp rebuke to Mr Biden. The president announced a two-year pause in tariffs last year after importers complained that the fines would threaten the adoption of solar energy in the United States.
“The passage of this resolution is a bet on American innovation,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Friday. “This will undermine those efforts and create uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry.”
The match pits Mr. Biden’s climate goals against efforts to make the United States less dependent on Chinese supplies of materials vital to the American economy. Critics say the tariff suspension fails to protect American workers and solar manufacturers, who have pushed the administration to block imports of cheap products.
“We need to back up the message that we want to build the US supply chain with action – even if it’s difficult and complicated some of the deployments,” said Robbie Diamond, chief executive of SAFE, a group that advocates reducing America’s dependence on oil. “If we’re going to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk.”
Members of Congress sought to suspend Mr. Biden’s sentence after a U.S. trade court ruled in December that four Chinese companies illegally tried to avoid U.S. tariffs on solar products shipped from China by routing their products through factories in Southeast Asia.
Had it not been for Mr. Biden’s suspension of tariffs, these companies would have been hit with higher duties to bring their products into the United States. Some Democrats joined Republicans in accusing the administration of violating U.S. trade rules written to protect American manufacturers.
Representative Dan Kildee, Democrat of Michigan, said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Biden had failed to “hold China accountable.”
“Failure to stand up for those who participate in unfair trade practices hurts American workers and manufacturers,” Mr. Kildee said.
The government, however, said that the purchase of solar panels from China in the short term is necessary to implement the president’s efforts to reduce climate change. China makes the majority of the cells and panels that convert sunlight into electricity.
However, solar importers and installers have defended the tariff break and said it should be extended further. The White House has also argued that the materials are needed because companies are committed to building solar panels after Mr. Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides $37 billion in incentives for companies to produce solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and essential minerals in the United States.
“This action is a reaffirmation of the administration’s commitment to business certainty in the clean energy sector, and a signal to companies to continue creating jobs, building domestic manufacturing capacity and investing in American communities,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of Solar Energy. Industry Association, said in a statement.
There’s Swanson contribute reports.
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