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					</table><p>India’s rising solar export sector has been dealt a severe blow with the U.S. imposing 50% import tariffs.</p>
<p>The U.S. has been the prime destination for Indian solar cell and module manufacturers, but that could soon change. Taking the cue from global trade and geopolitical developments, Indian exporters appear ready to look at other markets.</p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2025, the U.S. <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/indias-solar-exports-up-26-imports-surge-80-2-qoq-in-q1-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accounted</a> for 99.5% of the total exports of solar cells and modules. The quarter saw exports rise 26.1% from the previous three months to touch $267.6 million (~₹23.1 billion). According to the Indian government data, solar modules and cells worth $1.5 billion were exported to various countries in 2024. Modules made up 97.7% of total shipments, with cells accounting for 2.3%.<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-11-180309-1-e1754916200378.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-83042 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-11-180309-1-e1754916200378.png" alt="" width="467" height="319" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-11-180309-1-e1754916200378.png 467w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-11-180309-1-e1754916200378-300x205.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 467px) 100vw, 467px" /></a>By an executive order published by the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White House</a>, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a penalty of 25% on top of the reciprocal tariff of 25% for Indian purchases of Russian oil.</p>
<p>At 50% tariffs, Indian solar products will lose their cost arbitrage and become more expensive than those imported from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia.<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-83036 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2.png" alt="" width="662" height="404" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2.png 662w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2-300x183.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2-650x397.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2-624x381.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/exports-2-600x366.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px" /></a></p>
<p>These Southeast Asian nations are subjected to tariffs of less than 20%.</p>
<p>Leading solar module exporters will have to rejig their plans and look at new markets. In the near term, their revenue calculations will also be impacted.</p>
<p>Days before the 50% tariffs were announced, Amit Paithankar, CEO at Waaree Energies, acknowledged that the U.S. was the primary export destination for the company. He, however, spoke about diversifying into other markets like Europe.</p>
<p>“As far as the European Union is concerned, we are constantly studying incentives available in various geographies, which include Germany and Italy. From an engineering, procurement, and construction perspective, we have seen the Middle East and Africa offering us substantial potentialities to grow,” he said.</p>
<p>About the likely impact of the impending tariffs, Paithankar stated that while in some cases there is a possibility of going back to the customers and renegotiating the terms, in others such a possibility does not exist, “So, it is going to be a mixed bag.”</p>
<p>Tata Power Solar had said earlier this year that it was looking at exporting 1 GW of solar modules out of approximately 5 GW of its manufacturing capacity.</p>
<p>Indian companies also have the opportunity to export to the UK at zero duty following the conclusion of the recent trade deal between the two countries, but the market is fairly small.</p>
<p>The 50% U.S. tariff will kick in on August 27. Trade talks between the two countries were set to resume this month, but Trump has frozen negotiations for now.</p>
<p>Trump’s tariff salvo comes at a time when trade petitions have been filed in the U.S. against Indian solar imports. Several American companies, part of the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/us-trade-petitions-against-solar-exports-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> petitions seeking anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations into solar imports from India.</p>
<p>These petitions allege that companies based in India were engaging in illegal trade practices by undercutting the U.S. solar manufacturing industry and flooding the market with cheaper imports. India faces a high dumping margin of 213.96%.</p>


Indian Solar Exporters Eye Alternative Markets Post Trump’s 50% Tariff


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					</table><p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/donald-j-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. President</a> Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the Secretary of the Treasury to terminate the clean electricity production and investment tax credits for wind and solar facilities and implement the enhanced foreign entity of concern restrictions identified in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Act.</p>
<p>The Secretary must take all action to strictly enforce the termination of the clean electricity production and investment tax credits under sections 45Y and 48E for wind and solar facilities within 45 days following the enactment of the Budget Reconciliation Bill.</p>
<p>These actions include issuing new and revised guidance that is appropriate and consistent with the applicable law, ensuring that policies concerning the “beginning of construction” are not circumvented. The Secretary will achieve this by preventing the artificial acceleration or manipulation of eligibility and restricting the use of broad safe harbors unless a substantial portion of a subject facility has been built.</p>
<p>The Secretary must also take prompt and lawful action to implement the Act’s strengthened restrictions on Foreign Entities of Concern within 45 days.</p>
<p>Additionally, all regulations, guidance, policies, and practices under the Department’s jurisdiction that favor wind and solar over dispatchable energy sources must be reviewed within the same 45-day period. Any such preferences must then be removed through appropriate and legally consistent revisions.</p>
<p>The Secretaries of the Treasury and the Interior must submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, detailing their findings and the actions taken or planned to carry out the order within 45 days of this order.</p>
<p>Trump stated that the federal government has allowed American taxpayers to subsidize what he considers costly and unreliable energy sources, such as wind and solar, for a considerable period. He claimed these projects displaced affordable, reliable, and dispatchable domestic energy sources, weakened the electric grid, and harmed the nation’s natural landscape.</p>
<p>The President noted that dependence on green subsidies has also exposed the U.S. to foreign-controlled supply chains, threatening national security. Ending these taxpayer-funded handouts, according to the President, is crucial for achieving energy dominance, fostering economic growth, ensuring national security, and maintaining fiscal stability.</p>
<p>President Trump signed a 940-page domestic policy and tax bill into law on July 4 after the United States House of Representatives <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/house-passes-senates-version-of-budget-bill-without-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation bill without any changes by a vote of 218 to 214.</p>


Trump Orders Treasury to Restrict Wind and Solar Energy Tax Credits


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					</table><p>Solar photovoltaics will no longer qualify under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act (DPA), with President Donald Trump rescinding an order of the previous administration that had designated these technologies as elements of national security.</p>
<p>In an executive order published in the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Federal Register</a>, Trump canceled his predecessor, Joe Biden’s presidential determination of June 2022, including solar modules and their components from the DPA’s purview.</p>
<p>Biden’s invoking the DPA was intended to expand the domestic production capability for solar photovoltaic modules and module components with funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. The inclusion in the DPA was felt necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability.</p>
<p>The inclusion of solar technologies in the DPA, with the necessary funding appropriated by Congress, was meant to allow the federal government to invest in companies that can build clean energy facilities, expand clean energy manufacturing, process clean energy components, and install clean energy technologies for consumers.</p>
<p>Electrolyzers, fuel cells, and platinum group metals were also included in the 2022 DPA announcement.</p>
<p>Trump signed another executive order using the DPA to increase domestic production of critical minerals, including uranium, copper, potash, and gold.</p>
<p>Immediately after assuming office as the U.S. president in January, Trump <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/trump-pauses-clean-energy-spending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a raft of executive orders seeking to reverse the Biden administration’s clean energy agenda. One order directed federal agencies to immediately pause funds disbursement through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).</p>
<p>However, Trump’s actions seeking to reverse support for renewable energy production have caused discomfort within his Republican Party. Earlier this month, a coalition of 21 Republican lawmakers <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/republican-lawmakers-rallies-protect-clean-energy-tax-credits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged</a> the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means to safeguard clean energy tax credits enacted under the previous administration to protect private sector investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure.</p>
<p>They highlighted the necessity of continued energy expansion and innovation to bolster national security and secure energy independence.</p>
<p>The Solar Energy Industries Association said in February that solar module manufacturing capacity <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/us-module-manufacturing-hits-50gw-capacity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grew</a> five-fold since federal energy policies, such as IRA, were passed to reach 50 GW. It claimed these policies allowed the U.S. to become the world’s third-largest solar module producer.</p>


Trump Ends Support for Solar Manufacturing Under Defense Production Act


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					</table><p>Soon after assuming office as U.S. president, Donald Trump issued a raft of executive orders seeking to reverse his predecessor’s climate and energy agenda. One order directed federal agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds through the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/inflation-reduction-act-faster-transition-clean-energy-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> spending millions of dollars to promote clean energy.</p>
<p>He directed revoking the ‘Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ and any offices established therein. Terminating the ‘Green New Deal,’ Trump’s order said all agencies would immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the IRA or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations.</p>
<p>However, the impact of executive orders on clean energy development is unlikely to be significant. According to the White House, contracts for 84% of all IRA funds have already been signed between federal agencies and clean energy companies.</p>
<p>More importantly, it is unlikely that the freeze on disbursements will impact IRA tax credits since they are protected by statute and cannot be eliminated by executive orders. Moreover, the tax credits have bipartisan support, and Congress would have to approve any rollback.</p>
<p>The previous Biden administration had described the IRA as the single largest and most ambitious investment in the U.S.’s ability to advance clean energy, cut consumer energy costs, confront the climate crisis, promote environmental justice, and strengthen energy security.</p>
<p>Trump’s executive order pausing spending directs agencies to review grants, loans, and other payments associated with the IRA. According to the American Clean Power Association, the clean energy industry in the U.S. has <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/ira-fuels-record-investment-us-clean-energy-sector" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> investments of over $150 billion since 2022.</p>
<p>Trump also ordered a halt to offshore wind energy leasing and permitting. “This withdrawal shall go into effect beginning on January 21, 2025, and shall remain in effect until this Presidential Memorandum is revoked,” the order said. “This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation.”</p>
<p><strong>U.S. to Withdraw from Paris Accord </strong></p>
<p>In other executive orders, Trump directed the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. This is not the first time that Trump has withdrawn from the agreement. He announced a withdrawal during his first term in office in 2017. Biden, however, <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/us-rejoins-paris-climate-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rescinded</a> the order in 2021. The agreement, signed by over 190 countries, seeks to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p>Trump’s executive order has directed the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to formally write to the Secretary-General about the withdrawal from any agreement or financial commitment made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.</p>
<p><strong>Energy Emergency</strong></p>
<p>Trump also declared a national energy emergency to protect the U.S. from an inadequate energy supply and infrastructure that resulted in high energy prices. In his inauguration speech, he invoked the ‘drill baby, drill’ rhetoric from his election campaign. The orders that followed the speech attempt to unburden the oil and gas industry from tough emission regulations.</p>
<p>He directed all the relevant agencies to conduct an immediate review of actions that potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources, with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources.</p>
<p><strong>Electric Vehicles</strong></p>
<p>Trump also revoked the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” to promote true consumer choice by ensuring a level regulatory playing field for vehicle choices and terminating state emissions waivers that limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.</p>
<p>The order seeks to eliminate “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived’ government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable.</p>
<p>Biden had signed a mandate for 50% of all new vehicles to be electric vehicles by 2030.</p>


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