New Delhi: Arguing that producers and exporters of solar cells and panels from India, Indonesia and Laos benefitted from unfair government subsidies and harmed the US industry, the US on Friday (September 11) finalised steep anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the import of the aforementioned equipment, reported Press Trust of India.Announcing its final affirmative determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from India, Indonesia, and Laos, the US Department of Commerce anti-dumping margins of 123.04% for Indian producers, 94.36% for Indonesian producers and 65.43% for producers from Laos.Moreover, it has fixed countervailing duty rates of 126.09% for Indian producers, between 73.2% and 173.7% for Indonesian producers and between 82.03% and 153.67% for Laos producers, added the PTI report.The decision was taken after The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade filed a petition and sought probe into allegedly illegal trade practices by largely Chinese-owned manufacturers operating in Laos and Indonesia, along with companies headquartered in India.“These determinations confirm that producers and exporters from these countries have been dumping solar products into the US market at unfairly low prices and have benefited from countervailable subsidies, causing material injury to the domestic solar manufacturing industry,” said the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade said in a statement after the new duties were finalised.Following the Department of Commerce’s decision on Friday, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) will now examine whether the subsidised imports harmed the US industry and make a final injury determination in the next 45 days. The final injury vote is expected on October 14.If the USITC’s final determination is affirmative, then by November 2, the Department of Commerce will issue the duty orders based on the fresh rates decides on Friday.