The US Commerce Department has imposed steep duties on solar panels and other related products from China, asserting that their manufacturers had benefited from unfair Chinese government subsidies.

The decision was based on the petition filed by SolarWorld Industries America, the US unit of German solar manufacturer SolarWorld.

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SolarWorld claimed the Chinese manufacturers are enjoying Chinese government subsidies and were able to escape duties by shifting production of parts used to make their panels to Taiwan. The US has been extending import duties to panels made with parts from Taiwan.

In a preliminary ruling, the department imposed import duties of 35.21 percent to panels and other products manufactured by Wuxi Suntech Power, one of China's top solar panel makers, and five other affiliated firms.

The department also imposed import duties of 18.56 percent on solar panel imports of Trina Solar, the third largest solar module firm in China. Another 26.89 percent is slapped on imports from other Chinese manufacturers.

The ruling, while still preliminary, means the US government can now begin collecting the tariffs in advance even as the final decision is expected later this year yet.

SolarWorld Industries America President Mukesh Dulani said the Commerce decision showed that the US supports fair trade.

"SolarWorld hopes the illegal Chinese government intervention in the US solar market will finally end," said Dulani.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC), however, described the preliminary ruling by the US Commerce Department as "an abuse of trade remedy measures'.

In a statement released Wednesday, an official with the MOC said the US once again started anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on PV products from China and levies high duties even as it already imposed duties on those products in November 2012.

The MOC official, quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency, said the latest ruling had a clear hint of trade protectionism.

"The recent US Commerce Department ruling will surely worsen the US-China dispute in Photovoltaic trade," the official said.

Photovoltaic is a technology for converting sunlight directly into electricity. 

TagsChina Solar Panel, US-China trade dispute, US Tariff on China Solar Panels, China-made Solar Panels