"Chinese solar firms go where US tariffs don't reach" 5 November 2024

Some of the biggest Chinese-owned solar factories in Vietnam are cutting production and laying off workers, spurred on by the expansion of U.S. trade tariffs targeting it and three other Southeast Asian countries. Meanwhile, in nearby Indonesia and Laos, a slew of new Chinese-owned solar plants are popping up, out of the reach of Washington's trade protections...

Chinese solar firms have repeatedly shrunk output in existing hubs while building new factories in other countries, allowing them to sidestep tariffs and dominate the U.S. and global markets despite successive waves of U.S. tariffs over more than a decade designed to rein them in...

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The most immediate visible impact of the latest U.S. tariffs, which have brought total duties to more than 300% for some producers, has been in Vietnam's solar sector... In Bac Giang province, hundreds of workers at a large factory complex owned by Longi Green Energy Technology's Vinasolar unit lost their jobs this year... In Thai Nguyen, another province, Trina Solar, opens new tab has idled one of its two factories making solar cells and panels...

Longi did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. It said in June it had suspended output at a Vietnamese solar cell plant but did not provide details. Trina declined to comment. It said in June that some facilities in Vietnam and Thailand would be shut down for maintenance without elaborating...