A group of American solar manufacturers has filed a petition with the United States Department of Commerce requesting an anti-circumvention inquiry into companies that import solar materials from South Korea.
The group, calling itself American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience (AMER), consists of three members: Jeffersonville PV Cells Corporation (a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Canadian Solar), SEG Manufacturing Inc. and Heliene USA Inc.
The companies are asking the Commerce department to rule that crystalline-silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells imported from South Korea that use Chinese-origin components are circumventing existing antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on solar products from China.
The petition specifically focuses on the effects of Hanwha Q CELLS’s production of CSPV materials in Korea, noting that the company no longer has an in-country source for upstream materials like raw polysilicon, ingots and wafers, and instead gets these materials from Chinese suppliers.
While the petition also names Korean companies HD Hyundai Energy Solutions and Shinsung E&G, AMER is officially requesting a country-wide inquiry that would cover all producers and exporters of CSPV cells operating in the Republic of Korea.
The core of AMER’s legal argument is that the companies are performing only “minor or insignificant” processing of the Chinese materials, which AMER alleges constitutes tariff circumvention.
Past AD/CVD cases
The present request from AMER finds Hanwha Q CELLS on the opposite side of the antidumping argument compared to its role in similar petitions of the recent past.
As a member of trade groups called The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee and the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, Hanwha Q CELLS USA participated as a petitioner in two AD/CVD cases filed in 2024 and 2025.
The first case, against companies operating in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam resulted in high tariffs on CSPV materials from those countries in a final determination issued in April 2025.
More recently, the Department of Commerce released a preliminary determination in the second case, against companies in India, Indonesia and Laos. The preliminary determination resulted in immediate AD/CVD tariff levies of approximately 234% on solar cells from India, between 121% and 178% for Indonesia, and 103% for Laos. Final determinations in the case are expected later this year.
While it continues to import solar cells to supply its domestic module manufacturing operations, Hanwha Q CELLS has begun to make its own solar ingots, wafers and cells in the U.S. at its plant in Cartersville Georgia.
Comments
Please login to comment
The June issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Thursday, July 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Entries open in seven categories: Modules, Inverters, BoS, BESS, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Projects.
April 01 – August 31, 2026
pv magazine USA hosts its third multi-day virtual event on advancing U.S. solar and energy storage markets, covering financing, supply chains, and distributed energy’s role in grid resilience.
You have no items in your basket.
