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A coalition of European solar producers, EU ProSun, which was among the complainants that sparked the EU's investigation nine months ago, welcomed the new levies as a step to counter China's "flagrant violations of international trade law." "Dumping is fraud and harms the future of solar energy and must be relegated to the past," the group said. China rejects the EU's price-dumping allegations. De Gucht added that to reach a settlement, Chinese manufacturers would have to agree to increase their prices and accept a lower market share quota. Chinese solar panels' share of the EU market has risen to 80 percent over recent years. If an agreement can't be reached, the final anti-dumping tariffs, valid for five years, would require approval by a majority of the EU's 27 member states six months from now. If the EU governments were to reject the tariffs, the money collected between now and the vote would be returned to China. Several EU nations, including heavyweight Germany, have spoken out against imposing special duties and urged the Commission to reach a settlement with China. Germany has the bloc's biggest solar industry, but Berlin fears imposing special duties could provoke Chinese retaliation on imports of European goods which, in turn, would harm German exporters. De Gucht sought to dispel fears of retaliation measures, rejecting such questions as "hypothetical." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned last month imposing punitive tariffs would hurt European consumers and might encourage trade protectionism
- although he stopped short of threatening retaliation. The problem with the solar industry is not new for Beijing. The U.S. last year imposed punitive tariffs of up to nearly 250 percent on solar panel imports after finding that China's government was subsidizing companies that were flooding the U.S. market. Solar panel and cell imports to the U.S. in 2011 totaled $3.1 billion, the Commerce Department has said.
[Associated
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