Panel agrees with Canada that Trump-era U.S. solar panel tariffs violate USMCA

WASHINGTON — A dispute resolution panel has agreed that tariffs on Canadian-made solar products imposed in 2018 by the former Trump administration violated the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The panel’s final report, released today, found that the so-called “safeguard measure” left the U.S. in violation of its obligations under the deal. 

The U.S. had argued that because the tariffs predated the USMCA, which took effect in 2020, they could not be challenged under the new agreement. 

International Trade Minister Mary Ng says exports of solar products to the U.S. have fallen by as much as 82 per cent since the tariffs took effect. 

The decision is the second final report to be issued in a major USMCA dispute between Canada and the U.S. since the agreement, known in Canada as CUSMA, took effect. 

Last month, arbitrators sided with the U.S. in its complaint that Canada was denying American dairy producers fair access to the supply-managed market north of the border.

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Canada has also since joined forces with Mexico in its effort to change the way the U.S. interprets the rules that define where auto components originate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022. 

The Canadian Press