(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration has imposed preliminary tariffs — up to 143% — on solar energy imports from India, Indonesia and Laos after determining the countries unfairly subsidized production, a move that is likely to benefit U.S. manufacturers but threatens to raise consumer costs.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday that the tariffs match the subsidies: 126% for India, 86% to 143% for Indonesia and 81% for Laos. The subsidies allow foreign producers to sell exports to the U.S. at prices below production costs, hurting domestic producers, the U.S. says.
While the tariffs are set to benefit domestic producers, they will also squeeze U.S. renewables developers that have long relied on cheap foreign supplies, adding to uncertainty in a sector rocked by political and policy changes in Washington.
And the tariffs would be different from US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, which were struck down by the US Supreme Court last week. In response, Trump issued new 10% tariffs that threaten to rise to 15%. The president also struck a bilateral trade deal with India earlier this month that sought to reduce economic tensions between the countries.
India, Indonesia and Laos accounted for 57% of US solar module imports in the first half of 2025, according to BloombergNEF. Some developers have moved to source panels from there after the US imposed stiff tariffs on four Southeast Asian countries that at one point accounted for the majority of imports.
Relatively high tariff rates will make the US market largely inaccessible to Indian solar panel makers, Citi analyst Vikram Bagri said in a research note on Tuesday.
A U.S. solar group, the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, has asked Commerce to investigate the subsidies, saying the probe is needed to protect U.S. manufacturing.
“Today’s finding is an important step toward restoring fair competition in the U.S. solar market,” said Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice and general counsel for the Alliance. “American manufacturers are investing billions of dollars to restore domestic capacity and create good-paying jobs. These investments cannot succeed if unfairly traded imports can distort the market.”
A final decision on the investigation is due on July 6. The Department of Commerce is conducting a concurrent investigation into antidumping duties on solar cells imported from India, Indonesia and Laos.
