拜登政府将暂停对太阳能行业征收新关税 Biden to Pause New Solar Tariffs as White House Aims to Encourage Adoption

拜登政府将暂停对太阳能行业征收新关税

Biden to Pause New Solar Tariffs as White House Aims to Encourage Adoption

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration Monday announced a two-year pause on imposing any new tariffs on the solar industry, following an outcry from importers who have complained the levies are threatening broader adoption of solar energy in the United States.

华盛顿——拜登政府周一宣布，两年内暂停对太阳能行业征收任何新的关税，此前进口商发出强烈抗议，抱怨这些关税拖累太阳能在美国的广泛采用。

The decision is a victory for domestic solar installers, who said the tariffs would put at risk the Biden administration’s goal of significantly cutting carbon emissions by the end of the decade by reducing the flow of products into the U.S. But it goes against the wishes of some American solar manufacturers and their defenders, who have been pushing the administration to erect tougher barriers on cheap imports to help revive the domestic industry.

该决定是国内太阳能安装商的胜利，他们称这些关税会阻碍相关产品进入美国，从而危及拜登政府到2030年大幅削减碳排放的目标。但该决定与一些美国太阳能制造商及其捍卫者的愿望相悖，他们一直在推动政府对廉价的进口商品设立更严格的壁垒，以助国内相关产业的重振。

It was the latest example of President Joe Biden being caught between competing impulses when it comes to trying to steer the U.S. away from planet-warming fossil fuels, as he has pledged to do. By limiting tariffs, Biden will ensure a sufficient and cheap supply of solar panels at a time of high inflation and attempt to put stalled solar projects back on track. But the decision will postpone other White House efforts that might have punished Chinese companies for trade violations and lessened Beijing’s role in global supply chains.

这是拜登总统试图遵循自己的承诺、引导美国远离导致全球变暖的化石燃料的同时，陷入各方冲突的最新例子。通过限制关税，拜登将确保在高通胀时期获得充足而廉价的太阳能电池板供应，并试图让停滞的太阳能项目重回正轨。但这一决定将延迟白宫方面的其他努力，这些努力旨在惩罚中国企业的贸易违规行为，并削弱北京在全球供应链中的作用。

To counteract complaints by the domestic solar industry, the administration said that Biden would attempt to speed U.S. manufacturing of solar components, including by invoking the authorities of the Defense Production Act, which gives the president expanded powers and funding to direct the activities of private businesses.

为了安抚国内太阳能行业的抱怨，政府表示，拜登将努力加快美国太阳能组件的制造，包括援引《国防生产法》的授权。该法案赋予总统更大的权力和更多资金来指导私营企业的活动。

The prospect of additional tariffs stemmed from an ongoing investigation by the Commerce Department, which is looking into whether Chinese solar firms — which are already subject to tariffs — tried to get around those levies by moving their operations out of China and into Southeast Asia.

额外关税的前景源于商务部正在进行的一项调查，以便查明受关税限制的中国太阳能企业是否为了规避这些关税，试图将业务迁出中国并转移到东南亚。

Auxin Solar, a small manufacturer of solar panels based in California, had requested the inquiry, which is examining imports from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.

总部位于加州的小型太阳能电池板制造商奥克辛太阳能公司提出了调查要求。该调查正在审查来自越南、马来西亚、泰国和柬埔寨的进口产品。

In 2020, 89% of the solar modules used in the U.S. were imported, with Southeast Asian countries accounting for the bulk of the shipments.

2020年，美国使用的太阳能模块有89%来自进口，其中大部分来自东南亚国家。

If the Commerce Department determines that the factories were set up to circumvent U.S. tariffs, the administration could retroactively impose tariffs on shipments to the U.S. But under the tariff “pause” that Biden ordered Monday, such levies could not be imposed for the next two years.

如果商务部认定这些工厂是为了规避美国关税而设立的，政府可以对运到美国的产品征收追溯性关税。但根据拜登周一下令的关税“暂停”，未来两年内将不能进行这样的征税。

The decision is the latest turn in a long game of whack-a-mole that the U.S. government has played against low-priced imports in the solar industry.

美国政府一直在对太阳能行业低价进口产品采取“打地鼠”行动，而该决定是其最新转折。

While U.S. companies were some of the first to introduce solar technology, China came to dominate global solar manufacturing in recent decades by subsidizing production and creating a vibrant domestic market for solar installation. In 2011, the U.S. imposed duties on Chinese products to counteract subsidies and unfairly low prices. U.S. installers then started buying more products from Taiwan, but in 2015 the U.S. imposed duties on Taiwan as well.

虽然美国公司早早就已经引入太阳能技术，但近几十年来，中国通过补贴生产和创造一个充满活力的国内太阳能安装市场，开始主导全球太阳能制造业。2011年，美国对中国产品征收关税，以抵消补贴和不公平的低价。随后，美国安装商开始从台湾购买更多产品，但在2015年，美国对台湾也开始征收关税。

Trade experts said that pausing the tariffs could undercut trade laws aimed at protecting American workers by allowing companies in China to continue flooding the U.S. with cheap imports.

贸易专家表示，暂停征收关税可能会削弱旨在保护美国工人的贸易法，让中国公司继续向美国倾销廉价商品。

On Monday, Auxin’s CEO, Mamun Rashid, said Biden was interfering with the investigation.

周一，奥克辛太阳能公司首席执行官马蒙·拉希德说，拜登在干预调查。

“By taking this unprecedented — and potentially illegal — action, he has opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law,” Rashid said in a statement.

“通过采取这一前所未有的——可能是非法的——行动，他为中国资助的特殊利益集团打开大门，令美国贸易法的公平适用落空，”拉希德在声明中说。

To pause the tariffs, a Biden administration official said the administration was invoking a section of the 1930 Tariff Act, which allows the president to suspend certain import duties to address an emergency. Commerce Department officials said their investigation would continue and that any tariffs that resulted from their findings would begin after the 24-month pause expired.

拜登政府的一名官员表示，为了暂停关税，政府援引了1930年《关税法案》中的一项条款，该条款允许总统暂停某些进口关税，以应对紧急情况。美国商务部官员表示，他们的调查将继续进行，调查结果所导致的任何关税将在24个月的暂停期结束后开始征收。

“The president’s emergency declaration ensures America’s families have access to reliable and clean electricity while also ensuring we have the ability to hold our trading partners accountable to their commitments,” Gina Raimondo, the Commerce secretary, said in a release.

“总统的紧急声明保证了美国家庭能够获得可靠和清洁的电力，同时也确保我们有能力让我们的贸易伙伴对他们的承诺负责，”商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多在新闻稿中表示。

The possibility of tariffs has touched off an ugly battle in recent months over the future of the U.S. solar industry.

近几个月来，关税的可能性引发了一场有关美国太阳能行业未来的丑陋斗争。

U.S. solar companies have said that the prospect of more — and retroactive — tariffs was already having a chilling effect on imports. Groups such as the Solar Energy Industries Association, whose members include several Chinese manufacturers with U.S. operations, have been lobbying the White House against the tariffs and Monday welcomed news that the administration would pause any new levies.

美国的太阳能公司曾表示，征收更多且具有追溯力关税的前景已经对进口产品产生了寒蝉效应。太阳能工业协会等组织一直在游说白宫反对关税，周一，它们对美国暂停征收新关税的消息表示欢迎。太阳能产业协会的成员包括几家在美国有业务的中国制造商。

“Today’s actions protect existing solar jobs, will lead to increased employment in the solar industry and foster a robust solar manufacturing base here at home,” Abigail Ross Hopper, the president and CEO of SEIA, said in an emailed statement.

“今天的行动保护了现有的太阳能工作岗位，将导致太阳能行业的就业增加，并在国内培育出一个强大的太阳能制造基地，”太阳工业业协会会长兼首席执行官阿比盖尔·罗斯·霍珀在一份通过电子邮件发送的声明中表示。

But domestic solar producers and U.S. labor unions have said that the recent surge in imports from Chinese companies doing their manufacturing in Southeast Asia clearly violates U.S. trade law, which forbids companies from trying to avoid U.S. tariffs by moving production or assembly of a product to another country.

但美国国内的太阳能生产商和美国工会表示，最近中国企业在东南亚制造的太阳能产品进口数量激增，这显然违反了美国的贸易法。相关法律禁止企业通过将产品生产或组装转移到另一个国家来规避美国关税。

The domestic producers have accused importers — who have close commercial ties with China — of exaggerating their industry’s hardships to try to sway the Biden administration and preserve profit margins that stem from unfairly priced imports.

国内生产商指责与中国有密切商业联系的进口商夸大行业困难，试图影响拜登政府，维护因不公平的进口定价而产生的利润空间。

“If you have a supply chain that depends on dumped and subsidized imports, then you’ve got a problem with your supply chain,” said Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

“如果你的供应链依赖进行倾销和获得补贴的进口产品，那么你的供应链就会出现问题，”美国制造业联盟主席斯科特·保罗说。

“We’re getting dependent on hostile countries without sufficient domestic production to ensure against price hikes and supply shocks,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nonprofit group that promotes domestic manufacturing. “Whether it’s medicine, or PPE, or solar panels, you’ve got to have domestic production.”

“我们越来越依赖敌对国家，没有足够的国内产品来确保抵御价格上涨和供应冲击，”促进国内制造业的非营利组织“建设繁荣美国联盟”的首席执行官迈克尔·斯图莫说。“无论是药品、个人防护装备还是太阳能电池板，都必须要有国内生产。”

Some critics also said the legal rationale for the White House’s moves was specious, arguing that the administration was effectively declaring a state of emergency because of the consequences of its own trade laws.

一些批评人士还表示，白宫此举的法律依据似是而非，他们认为，政府实际上是因为其贸易法的后果而宣布进入一种紧急状态。

Scott Lincicome, a trade policy expert at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said that the administration’s actions seemed to be “quite the stretch of the statute.”

自由主义智囊团凯托学会的贸易政策专家斯科特·林西科姆表示，政府的行动似乎“超出了法律的范围”。

In a letter late last month, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Pa., complained that solar importers had spent “millions of dollars on advertising and lobbying to urge political interference in the trade enforcement process.” Biden administration officials had previously said that the Commerce Department’s inquiry was immune to political interference, describing it as “quasi-judicial” and “apolitical.”

在上月底的一封信中，俄亥俄州民主党参议员谢罗德·布朗和宾夕法尼亚州民主党参议员鲍勃·凯西抱怨太阳能进口商“花费数百万美元进行广告和游说，以敦促对贸易执法过程进行政治干预”。拜登政府官员此前曾表示，商务部的调查不受政治干预，称其具有“准司法性”和“非政治性”。

Solar tariffs have been a source of contention for decades, but they have taken on renewed importance in recent years as the consequences of climate change became more apparent. Chinese companies have expanded internationally, allowing them to continue to ship products to the U.S., while American companies have struggled to compete.

几十年来，太阳能关税一直是争论的焦点，但近年来随着气候变化而变得更加明显，它们亦变得更加重要。中国公司已经在国际上扩张，使得它们继续向美国市场输送产品，而美国企业则难以与之竞争。

After the Russia invasion of Ukraine in February, high gasoline prices have also impeded a broader desire to push the country away from oil and left Biden asking oil-producing nations in the Middle East and beyond to ramp up production.

在俄罗斯2月入侵乌克兰之后，高油价也阻碍了美国远离石油的更广泛愿望，拜登只得要求中东及其他地区的产油国提高产量。

White House officials said Monday that Biden would sign a suite of directives meant to increase the domestic development of low-emission energy technologies. He is set to make it easier for domestic suppliers to sell solar systems to the federal government. And he will order the Department of Energy to use the Defense Production Act to “rapidly expand American manufacturing” of solar panel parts, building insulation, heat pumps, power grid infrastructure and fuel cells, the administration said in a fact sheet.

白宫官员周一表示，拜登将签署一系列法令，以促进国内低排放能源技术的发展。他准备为国内供应商提供方便，令它们更容易向联邦政府出售太阳能系统。政府在一份情况说明中说，他将命令能源部利用《国防生产法》，“迅速扩大在美国制造”太阳能电池板部件、建筑绝缘、热泵、电网基础设施和燃料电池。

来源：nyt