Image: Amira El Fohail, Unsplash
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has expanded the exclusion of certain classes of hardware, including solar energy production equipment, from the Section 301 import tariffs. According to the USTRthe 178 exclusions would expire on November 29, 2025; however, the agency has extended them until November 10, 2026.
In the political section of the USTR press release, the extension comes “in light of” the “trade and economic agreement” reached between the United States and China on November 1, 2025.
The extensions were granted due to the limited availability of many of the covered items outside of China. The USTR notes that its decision followed public discussions that began in 2024. The agency says 147 of the approved exclusions have received comments supporting an extension, stating that the products “remain available only in limited quantities outside of China and that additional time is required to shift sourcing outside of China.” Ten of the exclusion items received comments opposing the extensions.
The excluded equipment includes a range of machines required to manufacture sub-components of solar panels. According to the original USTR listthe items include:
- Silicon growth furnaces for growing monocrystalline silicon rods
- Band saws designed for cutting or cutting cylindrical monocrystalline silicon rods
- Diamond wire saws for sawing or cutting square or rectangular monocrystalline silicon rods
- Coolant recycling machines
- Texturing, etching, polishing and cleaning machines designed for preparing, repairing, cleaning, etching, polishing or texturing solar substrates
- Plasma or low pressure chemical vapor deposition machines designed to deposit amorphous or nanocrystalline layers on one or both wafer surfaces
- Physical vapor deposition machines
- Screen printing line machines, including sintering ovens, for printing conductive contacts (silver) on both surfaces of a solar wafer
- Machines designed for transporting polysilicon to growth ovens and for lifting, handling, loading or unloading solar wafers up to 200 micrometers thick
The Section 301 tariffs were implemented by the Biden administration. In May 2024, the government doubled tariffs on solar cells imported from China from 25% to 50%. The White House in December doubled the rate from 25% on polysilicon to 50% and added solar wafers to Section 301whereby the rate is also set at 50%.
Other products covered by Section 301 include a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), a 25% tariff on EV batteries, a 25% tariff on non-EV batteries starting in 2026, and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum products.
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