The world’s ‘dumbest trade war’ is being fought over solar panels
February 20, 2014, 2:18 PM
By Claudia Assis

The “world’s dumbest trade war” is the spat between the U.S. and China over solar panels, according to an article on Slate. But it’s not just dumb: it could threaten the future of solar power, the online magazine says.

Cheap and plentiful solar panels from China have fueled the boom in rooftop solar systems. But now that the U.S. is threatening to slap new tariffs on them, China could retaliate by slapping more duties on U.S. manufactured polysilicon, a key component of the panels, the article says.

It all started when the U.S. division of Germany’s SolarWorld AG started lobbying the federal government for an investigation on alleged duty evasion. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce followed with a call to stop the probe, asking the U.S. government to be “prudent” in taking any further measures.

On Friday, the International Trade Commission voted to proceed with the probe. The ITC and the Commerce Department are running parallel investigations into solar imports from China and Taiwan, out of concern Chinese makers could be evading duties by assembling solar modules from cells made in other countries.

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Even supposed beneficiaries — First Solar Inc. FSLR and SunPower Corp. SPWR – would not reap that many benefits, the analysts said...