Ban solar components

Biden administration to ban solar components from Chinese company over forced labor

The move is another sharp rebuke by the U.S. against China, which dominates the supply chain for the renewable energy equipment.

By KELSEY TAMBORRINO and GAVIN BADE

The Biden administration will announce a ban on imports of solar materials from a major Chinese firm accused of using forced labor in the Xinjiang province, according to three people familiar with the plan.

The move, which comes a day after the company and four others were placed on a trade blacklist, is another sharp rebuke by the U.S. against China, which dominates the supply chain for the renewable energy equipment, and comes amid a rising international outcry over the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims, which the State Department has labeled a genocide.

Customs and Border Protection will implement the prohibition on products containing materials from Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd, a major manufacturer of the raw materials used in the polysilicon inside most solar panels, according to two of the sources. The action, called a “withhold release order,” will allow CBP to seize shipments from Hoshine, which will only be released if the importer can prove they are not made with forced labor.

Hoshine was largely the subject of a report earlier this year on Uyghur forced labor in the global supply chain of the material in Xinjiang, which supplies about half the world's supply of polysilicon to the solar industry.

Whole government approach: The announcement, coinciding with two other actions in recent days, is meant to represent a “whole of government approach” to show strong action against forced labor, one of the sources said.

The move will come a day after the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security added Hoshine and four other firms located in Xinjiang to its “entity list,” a trade blacklist that prevents U.S. firms from doing business with the listed entities without approval from the U.S. government.

Those other companies are Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co., Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., Xinjiang GCL New Energy Materials Technology Co., and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. All are involved in the manufacture or use of polysilicon products, and XPCC was the subject to an import ban imposed by the Trump administration.

Labor violator list updated: Additionally, the Department of Labor on Wednesday added polysilicon to its "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor" in an effort to increase public awareness of alleged violations in the solar supply chain.

Limiting trade ban on Hoshine stops short of establishing a region-wide WRO to block imports of polysilicon from all entities in Xinjiang. The administration has recently considered such a ban, POLITICO reported this week, but CBP often blocks imports from individual companies as it builds the legal case for broader action. The Trump administration took that approach, banning imports from XPCC before a Xinjiang-wide ban on cotton and tomatoes.

Background: The Biden administration has faced pressure from lawmakers in both parties to take action to address allegations of forced labor against ethnic Uyghur Muslims. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee called on the Biden administration earlier this month to block imports of Chinese solar panels and other products that contain polysilicon made with forced labor in Xinjiang.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Wednesday whether the administration was planning to ban imports of polysilicon from Xinjiang and whether doing so would hurt the administration's goals to eliminate carbon dioxide across the U.S. economy. Psaki, in response, pointed to the G-7 commitment to ensure global supply chains are free from forced labor.

"As a part of that, you can expect that the United States will continue to hold those who engage in forced labor accountable and that we will continue to remove goods made from local forced labor from our supply chains," Psaki said. "We also remain committed to making progress domestically and internationally on addressing the climate crisis, but we think we can certainly do both."