The Ministry of Commerce has released its provisional anti-dumping duties (AD) in an investigation into imports of solar cells from India, Indonesia and Laos.
The preliminary AD margins are 123.04% for all Indian producers, 35.17% for all Indonesian producers and 22.46% for all Lao producers.
Combined with the preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) determinations, India has the highest AD/CVD rates among the three countries.
The Alliance for American Solar Energy Manufacturing and Tradea group of domestic solar energy manufacturers, petitioned the government in July 2025 for an AD/CVD investigation, alleging that solar panel makers had shifted their operations to India, Indonesia and Laos to avoid tariffs on imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined in August that U.S. industry had been materially harmed by imports from the three countries, and Commerce conducted its own investigation into the matter.
Now that the preliminary tariff amounts are known, the next date to look forward to is September 3, 2026, for Commerce’s final assessment of tariffs. A final decision from the ITC is then scheduled for October 19. The issuance of the AD/CVD orders would take place a week later, on October 26.
The alliance, which includes First Solar, Mission Solar, Qcells and Talon PV, also filed a “critical circumstances” allegation with the Secretary of Commerce in January 2026. The document states that imports from India, Indonesia and Laos have surged, activity that “strongly suggests that these imports are being rushed to the United States in an effort to avoid the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.” The Alliance requested an expedited decision on critical circumstances, which would retroactively impose duties on imports imported up to 90 days before the tariffs were announced.
In its preliminary CVD determination, Commerce revealed several decisions regarding critical conditions. In the interim AD decision, Commerce determined that critical conditions existed for Indian producers Mundra Solar, Kowa and Premier Energie, but not for all others. In Indonesia, Commerce found that imports from Blue Sky and PT REC Solar Indonesia did not increase significantly, but imports from all other countries did. In Laos, critical conditions exist against all cell manufacturers except Solarspace.
Final determinations regarding the critical conditions should be released together with the final AD/CVD determinations.
