President Biden delivered a blow to Oklahoma’s congressional delegation and others that sent him a resolution to reinstate tariffs on solar panel imports from Southeast Asia.
Oklahoma’s members of the U.S. House and Senate voted in support of the resolution that represented a long-running fight with the White House about punishing China over trade violations that bypass U.S. rules limiting imports of cheap solar panels from Asia.
“America is now on track to increase domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity eight-fold by the end of my first term,″ Biden said in his veto statement Tuesday. “But that production will not come online overnight.″
It was reported that the threat of up to $1 billion in retroactive tariffs and higher fees could have cancelled hundreds of solar projects across the U.S.
One of those opposed to Biden’s plan is Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole who voted in early May to restore the tariffs.
“The United States cannot continue to ignore China’s unfair trade practices and sacrifice American manufacturing jobs on the altar of Green New Deal policies,” he wrote in a column explaining his stance.
“Moreover, the president’s radical environmental agenda should not lead us to ignore the fact that the CCP relies heavily on the use of forced labor in its solar manufacturing industry, a clear human rights violation,” added the Republican congressman.
Cole said the resolution was designed to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its illegal trade subsidies.
Oklahoma U.S. Sens. Lankford and Mulling also supported the resolution.