Senate votes to lift Chinese solar tariffs freeze, setting up clash with Biden.

The Senate Narrowly Advances Resolution Against Biden’s Emergency Shield on Tariffs for Chinese Solar Panels

The Senate has narrowly advanced a joint resolution that would reverse the Biden administration’s emergency shield against tariffs for some Chinese-made solar panels. The ball is now in President Joe Biden’s court, with the White House warning that the measure would “create deep uncertainty for jobs and investments in the solar supply chain and the solar installation market.” If he issues a veto, it would be the third of his presidency, and the pro-tariff legislation would need two-thirds of the vote in both chambers to overcome it.

Vote Results and Reactions

The final vote in the Senate was 51 “yeas” and 41 “nays.” “We’re going to get American jobs back,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who first introduced the Senate version of the resolution earlier this year. The vote comes days after the House voted in favor of its version of the resolution, with 221 members of Congress supporting the legislation and 202 opposing it. Twelve Democrats broke ranks to join their Republican colleagues in backing the measure, which could end a 24-month tariff freeze for some solar panels with parts from China that undergo final assembly in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Tariff Freeze and Investigation

That tariff freeze, which the Department of Commerce put into effect in September 2022, came amid the department’s investigation into tariff evasion by Chinese companies, which have been subject to anti-dumping duties since 2012. The department announced its preliminary finding in December 2022, concluding that four companies with production in China “are attempting to bypass U.S. duties by doing minor processing in one of the Southeast Asian countries before shipping to the United States.”

Bipartisan Buy-In on Protectionist Policy

The House resolution was co-sponsored by Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Christopher Deluzio (D-Pa.), signaling the bipartisan buy-in on protectionist policy intended to boost U.S. manufacturing and reduce support for a top strategic adversary. In a May 3 interview with NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister publication, Nick Iacovella of the Coalition for a Prosperous America said China has “a chokehold on the industry,” aided in part by its use of forced labor by Uyghurs and other minorities.

Democrats Divided on Tariffs

In the hours before the May 3 evening vote, some Democrats in the Senate publicized their concerns with the legislation. Led by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), a group of nine lawmakers penned a letter via Medium explaining why they don’t back the reimposition of solar panel tariffs. One signatory, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), has long faced criticism from Republicans and conservatives because of her ties to China. “Our current domestic solar manufacturing can only meet about 15 percent of demand. As we work to bolster our manufacturing capabilities here at home, we must temporarily rely on these imported panels to satisfy our domestic demand and support American solar jobs,” the letter reads. It claims that the resolution “will kill jobs, raise energy costs, weaken our nation’s energy security, and make us less competitive with China.”