Trade Tribunal Agrees Cheap Chinese Imports Are Hurting Canadian Solar Makers

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By David Paddon, CTV News Jul 06, 2015

Canada's smaller solar module manufacturers are applauding a favourable decision from the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, which has ruled that low-price imports from China pose a significant threat to the domestic industry.

The tribunal's decision allows Canada to continue imposing duties on most types of photovoltaic modules from China that are alleged to be subsidized and sold in this country at artificially low prices.

"If you take a look at it from a 10,000-foot perspective, I think it's the right outcome," lawyer Paul Conlin, whose Ottawa firm acted for four Ontario-based companies who filed the complaint last year, said Monday in an interview.

"It's good for the Canadian producers but I think it's also good for Canada," Conlin said. "I think having Canadian companies that are involved in producing this -- as Canada is moving towards clean energy -- is a very positive thing."

An investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency, which has been charging duties since March under a preliminary ruling, alleged in early June that about half a dozen Chinese companies, and a Chinese subsidiary of Canadian Solar International, were benefiting from foreign subsidies and dumping the products in this market.

In a statement Friday, the tribunal said the Canada's domestic industry hasn't been harmed yet but is generally threatened by the Chinese imports -- a finding that's sufficient to keep the tariffs in place.

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