By Wayne Ma
BEIJING--China on Monday hit back at the U.S. for taking another
step to close a loophole that allowed some Chinese solar-equipment
makers to avoid tariffs.
China's Ministry of Commerce, citing an official it didn't
identify, said the U.S. 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."
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
manufacturers who 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.
Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department said Chinese solar
companies dumped solar cells, panels and other equipment into the
U.S. and levied provisional tariffs on the firms. Those tariffs
will become permanent if the department confirms an initial finding
this year and if a special U.S. trade commission finds the behavior
hurt the U.S. industry.
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 claimed that some
Chinese solar companies avoided U.S. tariffs by shipping solar-cell
components to overseas locations such as Taiwan, where they were
used to make solar cells that were shipped back to China for
assembly into solar panels.
Write to Wayne Ma at wayne.ma@wsj.com