US & Canada Settle Solar Trade Dispute

• The US and Canada have entered a MoU to settle their solar products tariff dispute
• US says a mechanism has been included in the MoU to ensure Canadian imports do not undermine its safeguard measures on solar imports
• The duo agree that this agreement will promote greater deployment of solar in North America and also strengthen the region's competitiveness

The US and Canada have reached a settlement in their trade dispute which now opens up the way for Canadian solar products to enter their neighboring country without US safeguard tariffs that have been in place since early 2018.

The 2 countries have now entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which they have included a mechanism 'to ensure that solar product imports from Canada do not undermine the existing US safeguard measure on imports of solar products'.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the agreement with Canada will promote greater deployment of solar energy in the US and foster a more resilient North American supply chain for clean energy products made without forced labor.

Since early 2018 when Trump imposed safeguard tariffs came into force, Canada claims its exports of solar products to the US declined by as much as 82%. The country had dragged the US to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) dispute settlement panel that ruled in favor of Canada in February 2022. North American solar module producer Heliene back then said the US had time till March 16, 2022 to terminate the tariffs (see North America PV News Snippets).

In a statement issued to announce the MoU, Mary Ng, Canadian Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, said this agreement will bring stability and predictability to the country's renewable energy sector and strengthen North American competitiveness in the field.

In February 2022, US President Joe Biden extended his predecessor's safeguard tariffs on imported crystalline silicon PV cells and modules by another 4 years while excluding bifacial panels (see US Extends Section 201 Tariffs).

In June 2022, the US government provided a breather to imported solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from tariffs for 24 months. It was followed by the government implementing its Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) banning anything mined, produced, manufactured in China's Xinjiang to enter its borders (see ULFPA Comes Into Force In The US).