The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) voted to conclude that domestic solar module manufacturers suffered material injury from imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from four Southeast Asian countries.

USITC has cleared the way for tariffs on solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) has determined that the cells, whether or not assembled into modules, are sold in the country at less than fair value and subsidized by the Malaysian and Vietnamese governments. The Commission highlights the same issues with cells imported from Cambodia and Thailand.

The Commission’s decision concludes a year-long investigation into whether the U.S. domestic solar industry is affected by the dumping and unfair trade practices of Southeast Asian companies.

After the Commission’s decision, Commerce will issue countervailing and anti-dumping duty orders on imports of these products from the targeted countries.

The decision comes after the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against solar imports from select Southeast Asian countries last year.

The petitioners included Convalt Energy, First Solar, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, Qcells, REC Silicon, and Swift Solar. They asserted that these Southeast Asian countries, under the Chinese industrial policy, are flooding the U.S. markets with low-cost solar modules.

The Solar Energy Manufacturers for America coalition welcomed the UISTC move.

“With this decision, the non-partisan International Trade Commission affirmed for the third time that Chinese-owned firms continue to cheat our trade laws and undercut U.S. solar manufacturers,” said SEMA Coalition Executive Director Michael Carr. “This ruling is a step forward in addressing China’s continuing efforts to undermine the U.S. manufacturing rebuilding effort.”

“Unfortunately, Congress appears to be about to take two steps back by retroactively repealing the tax incentives to purchase domestic products. If the bill becomes law in its current form, domestic factories will close before they’ve even been allowed to fully open. All the trade protections in the world won’t make a difference if Congress backtracks on its commitments to reshore this critical industry,” Carr said.

In April this year, Commerce announced its final determinations in the anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations concerning crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.