US lawmakers urged the Trump administration to block imports of partially finished solar cells known as "blue wafers," which manufacturers use to circumvent tariffs and claim federal tax credits meant for domestic production.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers urged the Trump administration, on 16 July 2026, to clamp down on imports of partially finished solar cells—called “blue wafers”—that manufacturers use to sidestep tariffs and claim federal tax credits they’re not entitled to.
The letter, signed by Republicans Mike Bost and Pat Harrigan and Democrats Ro Khanna and Marcy Kaptur, asks Customs and Border Protection and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take action.
Blue wafers are thin slices of ultra-pure silicon that have been processed enough to generate electricity but not enough to meet the technical definition of a finished solar cell.
Companies import blue wafers—which currently escape tariffs—finish the processing in the US, then claim manufacturing tax credits meant for domestic solar production. Chinese companies control roughly 80% of the global solar supply and have increasingly shifted manufacturing to other countries to dodge existing duties.
The US already imposes anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on solar cells from China and eight other Asian countries. These importers are finding a gap in the rules.
The Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, whose members include First Solar and Hanwha’s Qcells unit, supported the letter.
Rob Gardner, SEMA’s vice president of congressional and regulatory affairs, said coalition members have “invested billions of dollars and created thousands of high-quality American manufacturing jobs” to build domestic solar capacity. The duty evasion is undercutting that effort.
