U.S. solar panel manufacturers have filed a new tariff circumvention investigation request, this time on product coming from Ethiopia. The filing alleges that manufacturers using Chinese-origin components are exploiting Ethiopia as the latest export site to circumvent antidumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on solar products.
There has been an uptick in imported solar cells and panels from Ethiopia in the last year. Toyo recently completed a 4-GW cell factory in the country and has been importing its own cells for use in its 1-GW solar panel assembly plant in Houston, Texas. Origin Solar has also opened a cell factory in Ethiopia that is estimated to have a 4.2-GW annual production capacity. But the obvious increase in exports are seen in finished solar panels, not solar cells. The domestic manufacturers filing the petition with the Dept. of Commerce specifically call out Toyo and Origin Solar.
The companies that submitted the petition are a range of experienced U.S. manufacturers including DYCM Power, First Solar, Qcells, Silfab, Solx, Suniva, Swift Solar (doing business as Solx) and Talon PV. DYCM is allegedly opening a solar panel factory in New York, although no concrete information has been released. First Solar makes thin-film panels throughout the United States; Qcells operates a complex in Georgia; Silfab operates in Washington and South Carolina; Solx is starting up in Puerto Rico; Suniva is working in Georgia and South Carolina; and Talon PV is starting up in Texas. This is the first time Solar Power World has seen Swift Solar, a perovskite company, associated with Solx.
Toyo’s Ethiopian operations. Credit: Google Maps
The companies, typically working under the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade banner, are involved with the many AD/CVD requests and orders in the solar industry. The original AD/CVD orders (Solar I) were placed against Chinese silicon solar products in 2012. Producers responded by shifting production to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam — triggering new AD/CVD orders (Solar III) in June 2025. A new round of AD/CVD investigations (Solar IV) are ongoing against India, Indonesia and Laos. This Ethiopian investigation, if initiated by the Dept. of Commerce and International Trade Commission (ITC), would be considered Solar V.
The Ethiopia filing alleges that Toyo and Origin Solar are using Chinese-origin wafers to make solar cells in Ethiopia, then assembling those cells into modules in Ethiopia or Vietnam for export to the United States. The petition claims that nearly 70% of the finished solar modules include components and processing that are already subject to existing tariffs.
U.S. imports of solar cells and modules from Ethiopia surged from zero in June of 2025 to over $300 million by year’s end. The petitioners say this surge correlates directly with the initiation of tariffs against imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in June 2025 and the India, Indonesia and Laos investigation request in August 2025.
“What we’re seeing in Ethiopia follows a familiar playbook,” said Tim Brightbill, partner and co-chair of the trade practice at Wiley Rein LLP and Alliance representative. “For over a decade, state-subsidized manufacturers have responded to U.S. trade enforcement by relocating minimal finishing operations to the next available country, while continuing to source nearly all their inputs from the same foreign suppliers. American solar manufacturing is at an inflection point: With billions invested, thousands of jobs created, and real capacity coming online, we are not going to stand by and allow serial tariff evasion to undercut that progress.”
The Dept. of Commerce has 30 days to initiate an investigation.
