Solar developers and panel makers clash over tariff request

WASHINGTON — Dozens of solar industry executives, government officials and foreign diplomats gathered Tuesday to urge federal trade commissioners to reject a petition from two domestic solar equipment manufacturers to impose steep tariffs and minimum price guarantees on similar imports.

At risk, they argued, is the future of the solar industry itself.

“They seek a public remedy for their own private failings,” said Matthew R. Nicely, a lawyer representing the main solar trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, before the U.S. International Trade Commission.

But Matthew J. McConkey, a lawyer for Suniva, the Georgia-based manufacturer originally brought the petition, argued that the case was about more than two companies that managed to outlast the many manufacturers squeezed out of business by foreign competition.

The case, which could put the final decision about government intervention, and any remedy, directly in President Donald Trump’s hands, could become one of the first major trade decisions of his administration. It also could determine how and whether the U.S. solar industry can continue to grow.

At issue is whether the financial woes of Suniva and its co-petitioner, SolarWorld Americas, are a result of unfair competition from Chinese companies benefiting from state subsidies, or of their own business practices.