WTO rules against India on US solar exports

cts. The US, it said, has consistently made the case that India can achieve its clean energy goals faster and more cost-effectively by allowing solar technologies to be imported from the US and other solar producers. "Today, the WTO panel agreed with the United States that India's 'localization' measures discriminate against US manufacturers and are against WTO rules," Froman said. The US and India "are strong supporters of the multilateral, rules-based trading system and take our WTO obligations seriously," he said. "This is an important outcome, not just as it applies to this case, but for the message it sends to other countries considering discriminatory 'localization' policies." "The United States strongly supports the rapid deployment of solar energy around the world - including in India," Froman said. "But discriminatory policies in the clean energy space in fact undermine our efforts to promote clean energy by requiring the use of more expensive and less efficient equipment, raising the cost of generating clean energy and making it more difficult for clean energy sources to be competitive," he said. The US had challenged the Government of India's imposition of domestic content requirements for solar cells and modules under India's National Solar Mission.