SunPower
Industryweek 32286 Sunpower At Blue Hills 0
Industryweek 32286 Sunpower At Blue Hills 0
Industryweek 32286 Sunpower At Blue Hills 0
Industryweek 32286 Sunpower At Blue Hills 0
Industryweek 32286 Sunpower At Blue Hills 0

Made in Mexico Good Enough for SunPower to Win Tariff Exemption

Sept. 19, 2018
Company gains advantage over Chinese competitors with ruling.

SunPower Corp. (IW 500/390), the second-biggest U.S. solar manufacturer, won’t have to pay import tariffs on the panels it makes in factories outside the country.

The company was granted an exclusion from the U.S. tariffs on imported solar panels President Donald Trump imposed earlier this year, according to a statement Tuesday from San Jose, California-based SunPower. The shares jumped the most in 10 months.

SunPower makes panels mostly in Mexico and Malaysia, and had argued that its products don’t pose the same threat to U.S. manufacturers as the Chinese producers that dominate the industry with lower-cost, less-efficient products. Avoiding the 30% duty will give the company an advantage over rivals that have to incorporate it into their pricing.

“This exclusion took a long time to get but it’s completely logical,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. “SunPower has a high-efficiency product that gets a pricing premium. They should not have been included.”

The decision from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is set to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.

SunPower climbed 15% to $7.55 at the close in New York, the most since Nov. 2.

Chinese-made panels will be assessed an extra 10% duty when they enter the U.S. market, the Trump Administration said Tuesday. That’s on top of the 30% levied on all imported panels.

“This will support U.S. solar technology leadership,” SunPower Chief Executive Officer Tom Werner said in the statement.

By Christopher Martin

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Empowering the Modern Workforce: The Power of Connected Worker Technologies

March 1, 2024
Explore real-world strategies to boost worker safety, collaboration, training, and productivity in manufacturing. Emphasizing Industry 4.0, we'll discuss digitalization and automation...

3 Best Practices to Create a Product-Centric Competitive Advantage with PRO.FILE PLM

Jan. 25, 2024
Gain insight on best practices and strategies you need to accelerate engineering change management and reduce time to market. Register now for your opportunity to accelerate your...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Transformative Capabilities for XaaS Models in Manufacturing

Feb. 14, 2024
The manufacturing sector is undergoing a pivotal shift toward "servitization," or enhancing product offerings with services and embracing a subscription model. This transition...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!