By Erin McCarthy and Wayne Ma
China's Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. on Monday said it is
still committed to the U.S. solar market, even though the company
will be subject to hefty tariffs as the U.S. and China battle over
dumping claims.
Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department said Yingli Green and
other companies shipped billions of dollars of solar equipment to
the U.S. at unfairly low prices last year, and the department in
turn levied provisional tariffs on those firms.
China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday said the U.S. actions
ignored "facts and laws" related to the "rules of origin" for
trade. The ministry reiterated earlier statements, saying it was
"strongly dissatisfied" with the measure and that the U.S. decision
was an "abuse of trade remedies."
The U.S. decision is part of a continuing battle between large
producers of solar panels in North America and Europe and producers
in Asia, which the U.S. blames for violating trade rules to support
domestic producers. Panels from China have been far cheaper than
those produced in other countries, driving down overall U.S. prices
by about two-thirds since 2010.
China-based Trina Solar Ltd. last week was assigned a
preliminary antidumping tariff of 26.33%, and Yingli Green and Wuxi
Suntech Power Co. will have to pay a 42.33% duty on U.S. shipments
if the dumping is confirmed.
The Commerce Department in June announced preliminary duties
because of Chinese subsidies, and last week's decision on dumping
brings the U.S. closer to putting up barriers to Asian solar
products that weren't included in the earlier case.
Both sets of tariffs won't become permanent until they receive
final approval from the Commerce Department, which is expected to
rule by December, and the U.S. International Trade Commission,
which is expected to rule by January.
China's commerce ministry said it hoped the U.S. would halt its
trade investigation as soon as possible. The agency added that the
measures would hurt "the upstream and downstream photovoltaic
industries" in both countries, which run the gamut from firms that
make the raw materials for solar components to solar-panel
installers.
"Trade friction is unavoidable, but governments have the
responsibility to control and avert their impact on the normal
development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations," the
ministry said.
The tariffs were prompted by a petition filed by Solarworld
Industries America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of SolarWorld AG,
Germany's biggest solar-panel maker. SolarWorld says it is a victim
of both dumping and unfair subsidies from China, hurting its
ability to compete for major buyers of solar products.
When combined with the previously announced tariff, Yingli's
total combined tariff rate on imported photovoltaic modules
assembled in China is 47.27%, the Chinese solar-product maker
said.
"Unfortunately, this determination will increase the price of
solar energy in America, severely jeopardizing the U.S. solar
industry's tremendous progress in cost competitiveness and
affordability when compared with traditional energy sources," said
Robert Petrina, managing director of Yingli Green Energy Americas
Inc., adding that the company has fully cooperated throughout the
investigation. "We remain committed to the U.S. solar market and
will continue to support our partners and projects."
William Mauldin contributed to this article.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com and Wayne Ma at
wayne.ma@wsj.com