The Dept. of Commerce has released its preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) amounts in an investigation on solar cell imports from India, Indonesia and Laos. India has a general 125.87% subsidy rate, Indonesia’s general rate is 104.38% and Laos received an 80.67% rate.
CVDs are placed on imports to cancel-out subsidies given to producers in and by the exporting country. In this case, Commerce has decided that solar panel producers in all three countries were incentivized by their own markets to make solar panels for the U.S. market. These preliminary duty amounts will be enforced by Customs, and cash deposits will start being collected on imported cells, whether or not assembled into panels.
India preliminary subsidy rates
| Exporter/Producer | CVD rate |
| Mundra Solar (Adani) | 125.87% |
| All others | 125.87% |
Indonesia preliminary subsidy rates
| Exporter/Producer | CVD rate |
| Blue Sky Solar | 143.3% |
| PT REC Solar Indonesia (NE Solar) | 85.99% |
| All others | 104.38% |
*PT REC Solar Indonesia has no relation to REC Group, operating in Singapore.
Laos preliminary subsidy rates
| Exporter/Producer | CVD rate |
| Solarspace, Vietnam Sunergy (VSUN) | 80.67% |
| All others | 80.67% |
The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, a group of domestic solar manufacturers, petitioned the government in July 2025 for an antidumping/CVD investigation, alleging that solar panel manufacturers had relocated their operations to India, Indonesia and Laos to avoid tariffs placed on imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined in August that the U.S. industry has been materially injured by imports from the three countries, and Commerce has been performing its own investigation into the matter. With today’s preliminary CVD reveal, the industry awaits the preliminary AD amounts, which are scheduled to be announced in April.
“Today’s vote is an important step toward restoring fair competition in the U.S. solar market,” said Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice and lead attorney for the Alliance. “American manufacturers are investing billions of dollars to rebuild domestic capacity and create good-paying jobs. Those investments cannot succeed if unfairly traded imports are allowed to distort the market.”
Commerce reviewed Indian solar panel import data from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025 (India’s most recent fiscal year), and reviewed data from the 2024 calendar year for Indonesia and Laos, ultimately finding solar panel exporters were subsidized in all three countries.
The Alliance, which includes First Solar, Mission Solar, Qcells and Talon PV, also filed a “critical circumstances” allegation last month with the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. The document said that imports from India, Indonesia and Laos have surged, activity that “strongly indicates that these imports are being rushed into the United States in an effort to avoid the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties.” The Alliance requested an expedited critical-circumstances decision, which would impose duties retroactively on imports entered up to 90 days before the tariffs are announced.
Commerce released details in this preliminary CVD decision that it did not find critical circumstances for Laos, as imports have not surged by more than 15%. Commerce also did not find a surge in imports from India as a whole, but did find a surge specifically from Mundra Solar. Concerning Indonesia, Commerce determined that imports from PT REC Solar Indonesia did not significantly increase but imports from Blue Sky and “all others” did. An affirmative preliminary critical circumstances decision has been made for Indonesia, excluding PT REC Solar Indonesia, and for Indian imports from Mundra Solar.
Once the preliminary AD rates are revealed around April 21, final AD/CVD rates are scheduled to be released on Sept. 3, 2026. Only once a final determination is given by the ITC (scheduled for Oct. 19) will Customs begin collecting the final tariff amounts.
All three countries are under various tariffs put in place by President Donald Trump, including the emergency Sec. 122 tariffs announced this past weekend. India recently reached an agreement with the United States for a general 18% tariff.
Last week, the United States and Indonesia signed a general trade agreement. In exchange for Indonesia importing $15 billion of U.S. energy (coal, oil and gas), $4.5 billion of U.S. agricultural products and $13.5 billion in American airplane equipment, the United States will place a 19% import tariff on all Indonesian goods.
This article, including the headline is somewhat misleading. These tariffs only apply to “solar panels” made in these countries IF the cell is also made there. If the cell is made in another country, then whatever tariff for the cell’s country of origin applies.