Canada ends anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain Chinese solar modules

KEY POINTS

Canada will no longer collect anti-dumping and countervailing duties on covered Chinese photovoltaic modules and laminates.

They followed Canadian findings that Chinese products were being dumped and subsidized and threatened injury to domestic manufacturers.

Removing the duties potentially creates another supply channel for Chinese modules, although the effect on Canadian module prices remains uncertain.

Canada has ended anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain Chinese solar modules and laminates, removing a trade measure that had protected domestic manufacturers for more than a decade.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) terminated its latest expiry review on Sept. 17 and rescinded the underlying order covering the products. As a result, the Canada Border Services Agency will no longer collect anti-dumping and countervailing duties on affected imports from China.

The decision closes a trade-remedy case dating to 2014, when Canadian manufacturers Eclipsall Energy, Heliene, Silfab Ontario and Solgate complained that Chinese photovoltaic products were being dumped into Canada and benefiting from government subsidies.

A decade of trade protection

The CBSA launched investigations in December 2014 and made final determinations of dumping and subsidization in June 2015. During its investigation, the agency calculated a weighted-average dumping margin of 124.4% for the Chinese goods examined.

The CITT subsequently determined that the imports threatened injury to Canadian manufacturers, allowing duties to remain in place. The measures survived a first expiry review in 2021.

A second expiry review began in February 2026 and was initially scheduled to determine whether allowing the order to expire could lead to renewed dumping, subsidization and injury to Canadian producers. Instead, the tribunal terminated the proceeding and rescinded the order. Its Sept. 17 announcement did not provide detailed reasons for the termination.

The measures covered crystalline-silicon modules and laminates as well as several thin-film technologies, although certain low-power and specialized products were excluded.

Earlier this year, the tribunal had separately amended the order to exclude flexible photovoltaic modules of up to 200 W designed for curved vehicle surfaces. That narrower proceeding was independent of the broader expiry review.

A changing trade environment

The decision also arrives amid a broader recalibration of Canada-China trade relations. Canada this year replaced its 100% surtax on Chinese electric vehicles with an initial annual quota of 49,000 vehicles subject to the standard 6.1% most-favoured-nation tariff.

There is no evidence from the tribunal that its solar decision was connected to those negotiations. The CITT process operates separately under Canada’s trade-remedy framework.

For Canada’s solar market, however, the practical consequence is significant. Removing the duties potentially opens another supply channel for Chinese-made modules and could increase pricing competition for developers and installers. At the same time, domestic manufacturers lose a trade barrier originally established to protect them from imports found to have been dumped and subsidized.

The next question is therefore less about the decade-old case itself and more about what happens when Canadian manufacturers and some of the world’s largest solar producers compete in a market without those measures.