The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade has asked the U.S. Commerce Department to open an anti-circumvention investigation into Ethiopia’s solar energy imports, alleging it circumvents existing duties through the use of Chinese components.
The complaint, filed this week by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade (AASMT), a coalition of domestic manufacturers with a direct financial interest in U.S. trade enforcement, calls on the trade to initiate a nationwide anti-circumvention investigation into Ethiopian solar products and issue a preliminary affirmative decision on circumvention within 30 days.
The filing specifically names two companies — Toyo Solar Manufacturing, the Ethiopian subsidiary of Tokyo-based Toyo Co., and Origin Solar Manufacturing — claiming both process Chinese-origin wafers into solar cells in Ethiopia before assembling those cells into modules in Ethiopia or Vietnam for export to the United States. AASMT said trade data confirms that nearly 70% of completed solar panels from Ethiopia contain components and processing already subject to existing tariffs.
According to AASMT, U.S. imports of Ethiopian solar products rose from zero in June 2025 to more than $300 million by the end of that year. The coalition said the increase followed the imposition of Solar III anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in June 2025, and the launch of Solar IV investigations into India, Indonesia and Laos in August 2025. AASMT said Toyo claims its wafers come from Indonesia, but shipment data shows Indonesia has sent almost nothing to Ethiopia.
“What we are seeing in Ethiopia follows a familiar playbook,” said Tim Brightbill, partner and co-chair of the commercial practice at Wiley Rein LLP, which represents the petitioners. “For more than a decade, state-subsidized manufacturers have responded to U.S. trade enforcement by moving minimal finishing operations to the next available country while continuing to source nearly all their inputs from the same foreign suppliers. U.S. solar manufacturing is at an inflection point: With billions invested, thousands of jobs created, and real capacity coming online, we will not stand by and allow serial tariff evasion to undermine that progress.”
The eight companies that filed the petition are DYCM Power, First Solar, Great Lakes Solex PR, Hanwha Q CELLS USA, Silfab Solar, Suniva, Swift Solar (trading as Solx) and Talon PV.
The original Solar I anti-dumping and countervailing duties were imposed on Chinese solar products in December 2012. Producers subsequently moved operations to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, leading to positive circumvention findings in 2023 and new Solar III orders in June 2025.
According to AASMT, imports from these four countries fell from $12.2 billion in 2023 to $1.3 billion in 2025. Solar IV investigations into India, Indonesia and Laos followed in August 2025, with Commerce imposing provisional countervailing duties on February 26, 2026 and provisional dumping determinations on April 23, 2026.
Toyo did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. The Japanese company began production at a 2 GW solar cell factory in Hawassa, Ethiopia, in April 2025, with plans to expand capacity and supply the US market. More recently, the US Department of Commerce imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on imports from India, Indonesia and Laos in the Solar IV case, further tightening scrutiny of solar supply chains linked to Chinese manufacturing.
