Solar's 4 December Tariff Step: Section 232 and Minimum Import Prices

The US duty on Chinese solar modules goes from 62.5% to 77.5% on one date. Here is what changes, for whom, and what to check about goods in transit.

What changes on 4 December

Proclamation 11052 adds a Section 232 duty on polysilicon and its derivatives from 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on 4 December 2026:

• 15% on solar cells (HTS 8541.42), solar modules (8541.43) and certain silicon wafers (3818.00).
• 10% for goods from the United Kingdom.
• 15% in total, including the regular duty, for the EU, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Taiwan.
• Polysilicon itself (2804.61) gets a minimum import price instead of a duty.

It stacks

Most Section 232 duties replace the forced-labor tariff. This one is added on top of it, and on top of China's Section 301 duty. A Chinese solar module pays 50% under Section 301 and 12.5% forced-labor tariff today; from 4 December it pays 77.5%.

Minimum import prices

The proclamation also sets minimum import prices from the same day: $21 per kilogram for polysilicon, $100 per kilogram for wafers, $0.22 per watt for cells and $0.38 per watt for modules. Buyers should check how their contract prices compare with these levels before goods ship.

Goods in transit

The rate follows the date goods are entered for consumption, not the date they were ordered or shipped. Price anything that will be entered after 12:01 a.m. Eastern on 4 December at the new rate unless the proclamation provides otherwise for your shipment.

What to do

1. List every solar product by HTS line and origin.
2. Re-price shipments that will be entered after 4 December.
3. Compare origins with the full stack: the UK and the 15%-all-in partners now sit well below China.
4. Check contract prices against the minimum import prices.

Check a product and origin on Zentria Flow's landed cost calculator: zentriaflow.com/landed-cost-calculator.