On Friday February 4, 2022, the President of the United States issued a Proclamation to Continue Facilitating Positive Adjustment to Competition from Imports of Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells (CSPV) (Whether or Not Partially or Fully Assembled into Other Products. The Section 201 safeguard on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and other CSPV products containing these cells has been in effect for 4 years, applies to imports from most countries and was scheduled to expire on February 7, 2022. The safeguard consists of:

A tariff rate quota on CSPV cells (i.e., solar cells) not partially or fully assembled into other products with an unchanged duty rate for the “in-quota” quantity and a higher duty rate for the “over-quota” quantity.
A Higher duty rate for CSPV modules (i.e., solar panels)

The proclamation extends the program for an additional 4 years and includes the following changes:

Amends the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) by increasing the in-quota quantity from 2.5 gigawatts to 5.0 gigawatts each year.
Amends the duty rate on CSPV modules to 14.75% which will decline by 0.25 percent each year.
Excludes bifacial solar panels from the safeguard duties.
Authorizes the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to begin negotiations with Canada and Mexico toward ending the safeguard from those countries as long as it doesn’t undermine the effectiveness of the safeguard.

The USTR has additional information on the Section 201 – Imported Solar Cells and Modules here.