Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has frequently brandished the big stick of trade with China.

Early last year, for photovoltaic cells and modules, Trump announced a tariff on imported products that exceeded the quota, which hit China's exports of photovoltaic products.

On June 12 local time, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released documents, after the federal Trade Department ruled that double-sided solar panels will no longer be subject to Section 201. That means exports of double-sided solar panels to the United States will no longer have to pay a 25 percent tariff. Us media exclaims: Dual panel technology beats Trump's tariff stick!

A CEO once told the media that the previous unreasonable tariffs made the price of double-sided solar products in the United States about 50 percent higher than elsewhere.

This is not the first Chinese company to be exempted from tariffs in the US. Guancha.cn previously reported that in August last year, Zhejiang Pharmaceutical (SH.600216), a pharmaceutical company based in Zhejiang Province, went to the US to plead against the tariff exemption.

Three months later, Chinese photovoltaic companies Attus and Trina Solar sued the US Department of Commerce for the final ruling of the third round of Administrative review of anti-subsidy photovoltaic products. The US court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, Artes and Trina Solar, on five points, and if the US Department of Commerce follows through on the court's decision, Chinese photovoltaic companies will receive huge tax rebates.

There was a time when Peng Xiaofeng of Saiwei in Jiangxi Province and Shi Zhengrong of Suntech in Wuxi were big names in the Chinese economy. The photovoltaic industry they represent once carried the great hopes of the Chinese people.

The afterlife is different in different times, although global production capacity is in the front for many years, the photovoltaic industry of our country still encounters "frigid winter". In addition to the industry cycle and other factors, the United States external pressure also "contributed". On January 22, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that for photovoltaic cells and modules, the US will impose a 30% tariff on imported products exceeding the quota in the first year, with the rate decreasing to 25%, 20% and 15% in the following three years. This measure at that time greatly hit China's photovoltaic product exports.

However, because the domestic photovoltaic capacity of the United States is completely unable to meet the demand of American customers, under the strong pressure of domestic public opinion, the Trump administration has to give in.

On June 12, local time, the office of the United States Trade Representative released a document showing that the federal trade Department ruled that double-sided solar panels will no longer be subject to Section 201. That means exports of double-sided solar panels to the United States will no longer have to pay a 25 percent tariff.

The US media exclaimed: Two-panel technology beats Trump's tariff stick!

Shares of Chinese companies benefiting from the news, such as Jinko and Longgi, rose on the news. In contrast, shares of U.S. Solar maker First Solar Inc. fell nearly 7 percent on Wednesday amid intense pressure from Chinese solar companies.

Chinese firms are big winners and share prices of American rivals have plummeted

The document will go through the federal filing process on Thursday, according to an official at the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

The document, "Product Exclusions: Specific Products in Solar Product Safeguards," states that the following products will be exempt from tariffs:

A double-sided solar panel requires that both sides of the module absorb light and generate electricity, and the panel module consists only of double-sided solar cells.

At the same time, the United States also exempted 250W to 900W flexible fiberglass solar panels (required to have no other glass modules and solar panels, and optical films with cell rows separated by more than 10 mm) from tariffs.

With the exception of South Korea's LG Electronics and Hanwha Group and a handful of small Canadian suppliers, the beneficiaries of the tax exemption are almost exclusively Chinese companies, according to a rough tally of industry databases such as Energy Trend. Longi, Yingli and Jinko are among the top three companies in terms of market size.

Jinkosolar's share price rose sharply on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 1:30 am on the 14th Beijing time, the share price was trading at $24.44, up 8.6% this week. The cumulative increase in a month is 39.7%.

Meanwhile, Shanghai-listed Longi shares also closed up 0.58 per cent on Friday. Companies such as Orient Sunrise, GCL and Trina Solar China have also mastered and applied solar technologies that are exempt from the tax.

"We are optimistic that this [tax exemption] will help our customers get value from our products," said Steven Chu, president of the Americas for a solar energy company that expects its deployment of double-sided solar modules to be eligible for the tax exemption, in an emailed statement.

Some rejoiced and others worried. After the tariff exemption was lifted, the prospects of domestic photovoltaic companies, which had been protected by the industry, were immediately dimming. Jenny Chase, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy, said, "It's back to the days of U.S. companies competing with China."

Shares of US Solar manufacturer First Solar fell 6.8% on Wednesday local time.

Double-sided solar panels are the future

The double-sided solar module itself is very thin and far more efficient than the traditional module, which is regarded by the industry as the only way to develop clean energy in the future.

In addition, according to US media reports, Li Zhenguo, president of Longi Shares, said that the previous unreasonable tariffs had made the prices of double-sided solar products in the US about 50 percent higher than those in other places, and the current tariff exemption will strongly support the development of clean energy in the US.

The 201 Investigation by the United States has curbed the development of China's photovoltaic industry

This tariff exemption can be regarded as a "correction" of the 201 investigation launched by the US against China's photovoltaic industry. But back in the beginning, this investigation had a huge impact on China's photovoltaic industry objectively.

On January 22, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced a four-year global safeguard on imported photovoltaic products, which was based on the 201 investigation conducted by the US.

The so-called 201 investigation is based on Section 201 of the US Trade Act of 1974. According to the clause, when imports of a certain commodity surge and cause serious injury or threat of serious injury to the US industry, the US President can protect the domestic industry by restricting imports through tariffs, quotas and other measures. The United States rarely used this trade remedy tool after the establishment of the World Trade Organization because of its strong unilateralism.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said at the time that the launch of the 201 investigation, which does not depend on the existence of dumping or subsidies, compared with the previous two counteractions, is "a serious unilateralism and inward-looking tendency, which emphasizes' America first 'rather than' competitiveness first '".

"Previously, US protectionism was mainly against a single country, but now it is against the whole world, which will have an impact on the exports of many countries, including China," Bai said.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products responded that many manufacturers would not be able to export panels from the Chinese mainland to the US because of a 30 per cent increase in tariffs on imported solar products and previous "anti-China" policies. China's solar panel exports to the United States plunged 41 percent in 2017 from a year earlier, according to the chamber.