China and EU avoid trade war over solar panels

New York Times : Karel De Gucht, the European Union’s trade minister, announced a deal between the EU and China regarding the import of Chinese solar panels. In June, De Gucht had imposed tariffs on the panels after it was found that many companies were selling them below the cost of manufacture, which was undercutting European solar panel companies. Fears of a trade war led to negotiations that appear to have found a solution. Both sides have agreed to a minimum sales price per watt for the Chinese panels, though the details will not be made public until the deal receives final approval. The deal may exacerbate a similar problem between the US and China, however. The US had put in place tariffs on Chinese solar panel products, to which China had responded by threatening to impose a tariff on materials imported from the US and South Korea. An international project to set global solar panel trade agreements had already begun, but the EU felt it necessary to come to terms with China while that discussion was still under way.