(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. trade court has overturned a decision made last year by then-President Donald Trump to end a tariff exemption that benefited domestic solar developers.
The former president’s proclamation that closed a loophole for solar panels that generate power on both sides “constituted an action outside the President’s delegated authority,” U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann said in a ruling Tuesday.
The ruling is a setback to solar manufacturers that have invested in domestic manufacturing after Trump imposed tariffs on imported equipment in 2018, but a win for U.S. developers that fought to restore the tariff exemption on two-sided, or bifacial, solar panels.
READ: Biden DOJ Says Trump ‘Lawfully’ Killed Solar-Tariff Loophole
The decision comes months after the trade court ruled Trump’s proclamation hadn’t violated an earlier order, effectively allowing his administration to end the exclusion. In December, a Washington-based solar-trade group and some developers challenged the proclamation, contending the administration “failed to follow the required procedures” before acting.
Trump originally approved four years of tariffs on solar equipment imports, starting at 30%. The administration later surprised many in the sector by granting an exclusion for bifacial panels. While they were considered niche products, the tariffs had encouraged some new solar manufacturing in the U.S., and module imports exempt from those duties posed a threat.
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