China Looks to Southeast Asia. As Andrew Salmon of The Washington Times wrote in an April 18, 2025 article titled “Amid U.S. tariff shock, Xi paints China as a reliable partner,

The US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four South East Asian countries. It comes after an investigation that began a year ago when several major solar equipment producers asked the administration of then-President Joe Biden to protect their US operations.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized hefty tariffs on solar panel cells imported from Southeast Asia in a supposed effort to stop China from cheating.  In a press release, the department stated that the tariffs would target Cambodia,