NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge overseeing trade issues on Tuesday overturned a decision by former President Donald Trump to allow reimposition of tariffs on some imported solar panels.
The decision by Judge Gary Katzmann of the U.S. Court of International Trade is a defeat for some domestic manufacturers.
It came one year after he ruled that Trump’s October 2020 decision to revoke a tariff exemption for double-sided, or bifacial, solar panels had not run afoul of an earlier court order.
Trump’s proclamation was a “clear misconstruction” of a law intended to liberalize trade, and “constituted an action outside the President’s delegated authority,” Katzmann wrote.
Shares of some U.S. solar panel manufacturers fell after the decision. In afternoon trading, First Solar Inc was down 8.6%, while SunPower Corp was down 2%.
A trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and some developers had challenged Trump’s proclamation last December, accusing him of reimposing tariffs without first going through the required procedures.
Bifacial technology is a small but growing part of the solar panel market, costing more but capable of producing greater power than traditional panels.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
