A group of American solar manufacturers has filed a petition with the United States Department of Commerce requesting an anti-circumvention inquiry into companies that import solar materials from South Korea.<\/p>\n
The group, calling itself American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience (AMER), consists of three members: Jeffersonville PV Cells Corporation (a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Canadian Solar), SEG Manufacturing Inc. and Heliene USA Inc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The companies are asking the Commerce department to rule that crystalline-silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells imported from South Korea that use Chinese-origin components are circumventing existing antidumping and countervailing duty (AD\/CVD) orders on solar products from China.<\/p>\n
The petition specifically focuses on the effects of Hanwha Q CELLS\u2019s production of CSPV materials in Korea, noting that the company no longer has an in-country source for upstream materials like raw polysilicon, ingots and wafers, and instead gets these materials from Chinese suppliers.<\/p>\n
While the petition also names Korean companies HD Hyundai Energy Solutions and Shinsung E&G, AMER is officially requesting a country-wide inquiry that would cover all producers and exporters of CSPV cells operating in the Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n
The core of AMER\u2019s legal argument is that the companies are performing only \u201cminor or insignificant\u201d processing of the Chinese materials, which AMER alleges constitutes tariff circumvention.<\/p>\n
Past AD\/CVD cases<\/p>\n
The present request from AMER finds Hanwha Q CELLS on the opposite side of the antidumping argument compared to its role in similar petitions of the recent past.<\/p>\n
As a member of trade groups called The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee and the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, Hanwha Q CELLS USA participated as a petitioner in two AD\/CVD cases filed in 2024 and 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first case, against companies operating in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam resulted in high tariffs on CSPV materials<\/a> from those countries in a final determination issued in April 2025.<\/p>\n More recently, the Department of Commerce released a preliminary determination in the second case, against companies in India, Indonesia and Laos<\/a>. The preliminary determination resulted in immediate AD\/CVD tariff levies of approximately 234% on solar cells from India, between 121% and 178% for Indonesia, and 103% for Laos. Final determinations in the case are expected later this year.<\/p>\n