The U.S. Court of International Trade has struck down the Biden administration’s two-year moratorium on anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) collections for solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The duty pause originated in June 2022 when the White House declared a clean energy emergency and issued Proclamation 10414. This authorized a 24-month deferral of duties on imported solar cells and modules to help ease supply shortages and accelerate renewable energy deployment.

In September 2022, the Commerce Department codified this pause by issuing regulations that effectively suspended liquidation and duty collection on qualifying imports from the four Southeast Asian nations. However, in August 2023, Commerce issued final circumvention determinations concluding that certain Chinese solar components completed in these countries were effectively circumventing existing AD/CVD orders on China.

Now that the moratorium has been struck down, any entries made during the two years are subject to retroactive duties. This creates significant financial exposure for importers and developers who relied on the moratorium for tariff-free access to Southeast Asian modules.

As a result, Commerce has been directed to cancel the framework, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection can now assess and collect duties on all qualifying imports that entered between June 6, 2022, and June 6, 2024.

Over the entire two-year moratorium period, Coalition for Prosperous America estimates imports worth $53.9 billion to $67.4 billion, or 71 GW to 88 GW, could hypothetically be subject to retroactive duties.

The decision came as a result of a petition filed by Auxin Solar and Concept Clean Energy.

Beyond the immediate impact on Southeast Asian imports, the decision signals continued momentum behind U.S. trade enforcement in the solar segment. Recently, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted to continue its investigations of imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from India, Indonesia, and Laos.

Indian solar exporters have, however, dismissed the allegation that they are selling below cost or that the government has subsidized them as unfounded.