The Chinese companies were selling their equipment below the cost of production while benefiting from various subsidies from the government, according to the US Department of Commerce, as reported by The Financial Times.
The new import duties will be almost 80 percent on Chinese solar panels, almost 50 percent on Chinese modules and a little less than 30 percent on Taiwan solar cells.
US companies welcomed the decision, saying that introducing import duties will restore fair competition on the market.
"These remedies come just in time to enable the domestic industry to return to conditions of fair trade," the president of US branch of SolarWorld corporation Mukesh Dulani said Wednesday, as quoted by The Financial Times. He also added that the decision "would allow solar panel makers to build new factories and create jobs in the United States."
Some industry players express disagreement with the newly introduced taxes, claiming that the decision will lead to price increases.
The decision to introduce import taxes is expected to toughen the trade negotiations between the United States and China which started Tuesday in Chicago.
The first import taxes on Chinese solar panels were introduced by US authorities in 2012. At that time the tax volume amounted to 30 percent and Taiwan products were not affected. The decision resulted in measurable decrease of the import of Chinese solar energy equipment to the United States. According to the US Department of Commerce data, the volume of imports dropped from about $3 million in 2011 to $1.5 million in 2013.
