ACORE Statement on House Passage of the CRA Resolution to Repeal the Solar Tariff Moratorium

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives approved a Congressional Review Act resolution today that would repeal the Biden administration’s 24-month tariff moratorium on solar panels manufactured in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. This two-year moratorium was implemented last September in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s solar circumvention inquiry and will allow time for domestic manufacturing to rapidly grow following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Following is a statement from Gregory Wetstone, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE):

“This measure, and the retroactive tariffs it imposes, would have a devastating impact on U.S. solar deployment. Many new solar projects have already been delayed due to a shortage of photovoltaic panels, and this resolution only exacerbates the problem, putting tens of thousands of good-paying jobs at risk and seriously undermining the success of the IRA even as scientists’ warnings about the impacts of global climate change are increasingly dire.

“ACORE strongly supports the effort to dramatically increase the manufacturing of solar modules, cells and other components in the United States. But with current U.S. solar manufacturing capacity only able to meet one-third of domestic demand, the industry needs time to scale. The imposition of retroactive tariffs will create needless market uncertainty, further hampering our ability to meet the nation’s critical decarbonization goals. President Biden’s two-year tariff moratorium is a practical compromise that allows continued access to imported components while domestic manufacturing ramps up.

“We urge the Senate to prioritize the clean energy transition and vote against this massively disruptive resolution.”

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About ACORE:
For more than 20 years, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has been the nation’s premier pan-renewable nonprofit organization. ACORE unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy. For more information, please visit www.acore.org.

Media Contacts:
Alex Hobson
Sr. Vice President, Communications
American Council on Renewable Energy
hobson@acore.org | 202.777.7584 (o) | 202.594.0706 (c)

Dylan Helms
Associate, Communications
American Council on Renewable Energy
helms@acore.org | 202.891.7868 (o) | 727.290.8804 (c)