The Trump administration is trying to will a lost industry back into existence, and it has reached for two blunt instruments to do it.
A new executive order imposes both tariffs and price floors on polysilicon, the raw material behind solar panels and semiconductors alike, in an effort to claw production back from China.
The tariff is the headline measure. From early December, most imported polysilicon and its derivatives will face a 15% duty, though imports from the UK get a lower 10% rate.
The price floors are the stranger tool, and arguably the more telling one, since the order sets minimum prices of $21 a kilogram for polysilicon and $100 for ingots and wafers, along with floors for solar cells and modules.
The point of all this is to stop dumping, the practice of selling below cost to squeeze rivals out. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the goal is to set prices so Chinese producers can no longer undercut the market, with the tariffs there to push companies to build domestically instead of simply buying whatever is cheapest abroad.
