Canada Imposes Tariff on Imported Chinese Solar Equipment

(Bloomberg) — Canada has approved duties on imported
Chinese solar equipment, escalating a trade dispute over what
importers say are below-cost components, according to the Canada
Border Services Agency.

As of Thursday, companies including JinkoSolar Holding Co.
and Trina Solar Solar Ltd. must pay a tariff to sell products in
Canada, according to a statement on the agency’s website.
Preliminary duties linked to allegedly unfair trade practices
were set by the agency and may change as the investigation
continues, according to Michel Parent, a spokesman for the
Canadian International Trade Tribunal, a judicial institution
that weighs trade disputes.

“These are provisional duties that will be collected as of
March 5,” Parent said Friday in an interview. “At the end of
the investigation, if the tribunal and CBSA determine that these
margins on dumping were not properly established, the CBSA
reimburses provisional duties that are collected.”

The tribunal said Feb. 3 in a preliminary ruling that
subsidized solar equipment from China poses a risk to the
domestic industry. Following a complaint from four Ontario-based
manufacturers in October, the border services agency found that
China’s share of Canadian imports rose to about 85 percent
between October 2013 and September 2014 from an estimated 56
percent in 2012.

The U.S. is involved in a similar dispute. In 2012, the
Commerce Department agreed to apply tariffs on solar cells from
China following a complaint from SolarWorld AG, a German
manufacturer with a factory in Oregon. A final determination on
tariff rates is expected later this year. China’s Commerce
Ministry says imposing such duties would violate World Trade
Organization
rules.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Jim Efstathiou Jr., Carlos Caminada

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