US President Joe Biden will allow solar panel parts to be imported free of tariffs from four south-east Asian nations, offering a cost reprieve to US renewable energy project developers after months of uncertainty.
The move by the White House was part of a package of measures designed to boost a transition to clean energy, including triggering the Defense Production Act — a Korean-war era law — to spur the domestic production of solar panel components.
The temporary blocking of trade barriers for imported solar panel components from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam comes amid a heated debate within the US administration over whether to ease tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods to fight inflation, unravelling levies imposed under former President Donald Trump.