As American trade officials finalized steep tariffs on solar cell imports from Southeast Asia, Chinese solar manufacturers have been looking at more regions to build factories to secure alternative shipping routes to the U.S. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced its final affirmative determinations in the year-long anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations on solar cells and modules from four countries in Southeast Asia, with rates broadly higher than the preliminary levels announced last year. Manufacturers such as Zhejiang-based Hounen Solar would face combined dumping and countervailing duties of more than 3,500% for products made in Cambodia, according to the announcement. Combined duties on some Chinese companies’ factories in Thailand would be close to 1,000%. Some Vietnam-based plants would see tariffs exceed 800%, and some in Malaysia would also face levies as high as 250%.
Southeast Asia has become a major destination for Chinese solar firms transferring production capacity overseas in recent years – seen as an attempt to bypass U.S. tariffs on direct imports from China. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the value of imports of solar products from the four investigated countries soared by 175% from 2021 to 2023, to nearly USD12 billion.
Chinese solar manufacturers have been exploring new regions for their overseas expansion strategies, with the Middle East a popular option. Last year, Jinko Solar announced a nearly USD1 billion investment in its fourth overseas plant in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to begin production in 2026. Earlier this month, Chint New Energy reached an agreement with the Turkish government on a new solar cell factory in the country, planning to allocate 80% of its production for export. “We are speeding up the deployment of certain factories across several countries,” said a manager from a Zhejiang-based solar manufacturing company on condition of anonymity. But uncertainties over Trump’s tariff policies could impede such long-term investments, the manager said. “Trump’s thinking is unpredictable. The real concern is that policies could shift again before the factories are completed.”
Facing long-time high tariffs enacted under anti-dumping and countervailing duties and Section 301 and 201 investigations, Chinese solar companies have developed “tariff immunity” in terms of U.S. exports facing the latest 145% tariff hikes imposed by Trump this year on all Chinese imports. By leveraging overseas production bases in Southeast Asia and other regions, Chinese photovoltaic (PV) products now reach the U.S. market indirectly.
While the U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties and additional generalized tariffs on solar cells from four Southeast Asian countries may increase production costs for Chinese manufacturers’ overseas operations and further compress profit margins, their products may still maintain a relative cost advantage compared with domestically manufactured goods in the U.S., the South China Morning Post reports.
