U.S. slaps 126% duty on Indian solar imports

The Trump administration has imposed duties of 126% on imports of solar cells from India following a “preliminary” determination that subsidised exports from Indian companies were hurting the competitiveness of American solar companies and contravened World Trade Organization agreements on subsidies.

These tariffs were collectively imposed on February 24 on India, Indonesia and Laos following an investigation that began on August 7, 2025 by the U.S. Department of Commerce following a July 7, 2025 complaint by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade (AASMT), a coalition of leading solar manufacturers.

The Indian companies under the U.S. Commerce Ministry’s radar included Mundra Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. and Mundra Solar PV Ltd. – both part of the Adani Group- Premier Energies Photovoltaic Private Limited (Premier) and Waaree Energies Ltd. and Waaree Solar Americas.

Beyond India, the department set initial rates ranging from 86% to 143% for Indonesia and 81% for Laos.

This latest U.S. levy comes after New Delhi and Washington agreed on a framework for the India-U.S. trade deal to bring down tariffs on India’s exports to 18% from 50% earlier. After this, the U.S. Supreme Court quashed Trump tariffs, calling them unconstitutional. President Trump then came up with a new 10% baseline duty on several imports.

On February 24, per a notice on the U.S. Commerce Ministry site, it was the Adani companies that were specifically named with a duty rates of 125.87% though these rates, as of now, apply to all Indian exporters.

The Hindu didn’t receive comments from these companies as of press time. However, given that the United States is the biggest export destination for solar components, Indian exports could likely be “impacted.” The implications of the order were still being studied, a spokesperson for Solex Energy Limited, a Surat-based solar manufacturer told The Hindu. “There will be an impact as the U.S. is a major export destination. How much still needs to be determined. Some months sees a surge in exports and less in others, so it could well be that we won’t see an impact beyond the immediate quarter,” the person explained.

Currently duties upto 40% are imposed on such export of solar cells. 

The duties that were imposed are additional to existing tariffs levied by the Trump administration. The final determination in these CVD investigations are currently scheduled to be issued on July 6, 2026. The Commerce department is also conducting concurrent antidumping duty (AD) investigations of solar cells from India, Indonesia, and Laos.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said it was also conducting a concurrent injury investigation. 

According to public documents on the U.S. trade website, perused by The Hindu, the  petitioner (AASMT) alleged that “..imports of subject merchandise from India have increased more than 15% over a relatively short period to be considered ‘massive.’”

On September 5, 2025, the U.S. Commerce Department “preliminary determined” that there is a “reasonable indication” that an industry in the United States is “materially injured” by “reason of imports of solar cells from India.”

A document also noted that “..Commerce (U.S. Commerce Department) is preliminarily applying adverse facts available (AFA) to Mundra Solar Energy and Mundra Solar PV because they failed to cooperate in this proceeding.”

According to data cited by U.S. authorities, Indian companies in 2022 exported 232 mega watts (MW) worth of solar cells which rose to 2049 MW in 2023 and 2,297 MW in 2024. In 2022-23 – $1,000 million worth of photovoltaics were exported and that increased to $1,939.92 million in 2023-24 and down to $954 million in April-December 2025.