WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and a bipartisan group of 21 Senators sent a letter urging President Joe Biden to expedite and bring to a swift conclusion the Administration’s investigation into solar panels and cells imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia and requested a meeting to discuss this issue. Earlier this year, Senator Tillis sent a letterbefore the launch of the investigation to express concern over the solar tariff petition filed with the Department of Commerce. 

This investigation could expand harmful, job-killing tariffs on solar imports, raising costs on consumers, and has already caused widespread cancellations and delays in the U.S. solar industry. According to a new report issued by the Solar Energy Industries Association, 70 percent of U.S. companies say at least half of their solar workforce is at risk as a result of this investigation. 

“Initiation of this investigation is already causing massive disruption in the solar industry, and it will severely harm American solar businesses and workers and increase costs for American families as long as it continues,” wrote the senators. “We strongly urge your administration to swiftly review the case and make an expedited preliminary determination. Such a determination should carefully consider the significant policy ramifications and reject the petitioner’s request for retroactivity.” 

“Already, as a result of Commerce’s decision to initiate this investigation, industry surveys indicate that 83% of U.S. solar companies report being notified of canceled or delayed panel supply. Without a reliable and cost-effective source of panels, existing and proposed solar projects could come to a halt,” the senators’ continued. “Left unaddressed, cutting off this supply of panels and cells also could cause the loss of more than 100,000 American jobs, including approximately 18,000 manufacturing jobs.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.  

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