‘EU Readies Solar Tariffs In China Fight’

The European Union is planning to impose import taxes on Chinese-made solar panel equipment in a move which is likely to trigger “one of the largest trade battles of recent decades,” writes the business daily.

The duties, which will include solar panels, their primary components, solar cells and silicon wafers, are expected to average 46 per cent, according to the newspaper’s sources, and are intended to protect solar equipment manufacturing firms within Europe from a tide of cheap Chinese imports. They could be imposed as early as June 5.

Dozens of European firms have closed since China entered the market six years ago, amid claims by European manufacturers that Chinese firms receive illegal state subsidies.

Europe is the world’s largest solar panel market and in 2011, China controlled 80 per cent of the European market, trade that was worth around €21bn or about 7 per cent of China’s total exports to Europe, reports the paper.

The Wall Street Journal Europe