A U.S. Commerce Department investigation that will apply new transnational subsidy rules for the first time is underway, with Commerce asking the Chinese government for details about its subsidies in the solar sector related to production in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department initiated anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on silicon photovoltaic cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, with a focus on Chinese-headquartered companies that are producing in those countries.

Today, the Biden administration announced "new actions to strengthen American solar manufacturing and protect businesses and workers from China’s unfair trade actions," including several measures to ratchet up trade remedies on solar products.

The European Commission announced today that in response to investigations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), two consortia that include Chinese solar companies had withdrawn their bid for a Romanian procurement contract.

In an opinion issued last Thursday, a U.S. Court of International Trade judge rejected the U.S. government's motion to dismiss a complaint brought by two U.S. solar producers related to a two year pause on duties imposed on solar products from four Southeast Asian countries

With one U.S. investment already in place, a major Chinese solar manufacturing executive made comments recently indicating that the Chinese industry may have to expand these investments in order to sell in the U.S. market.

Earlier this week, a group of U.S. solar manufacturers filed AD/CVD petitions against products made by mostly Chinese-owned solar companies operating in four Southeast Asian countries. The Commerce Department's new rules that allow it to examine "transnational" subsidies – i.e., subsidies provided by a