June 6 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Monday authorized the Defense Production Act and temporarily suspended trade tariffs on four Southeast Asian nations to increase domestic production of solar panels and other industry technologies in the United States.
Biden declared a 24-month tariff exemption for solar panel products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam amid an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department into whether the countries sidestepped U.S. tariffs on imports of solar equipment from China.
"In recent years, the vast majority of solar modules installed in the United States were imported, with those from Southeast Asia making up approximately three-quarters of imported modules in 2020," Biden wrote in the declaration published by the White House on Monday.
The tariffs had been put in place by the administration of former President Donald Trump but were extended by Biden for four years in February.
The Commerce Department said in a news release that tariffs on "Chinese and Taiwanese imports of solar cells and modules" will remain in effect.
