The U.S. Commerce Department determined "critical circumstances," meaning that tariffs will be charged retroactively if SolarWorld wins their case against cheap Chinese imports.

The finding was positioned by the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing as the Department of Commerce backing the coalition's claims of a surge of cheap imports in recent months. Trina Solar, one of the Chinese companies named by SolarWorld, disputed those findings last week.

"After several years of massive imports of illegally subsidized and dumped Chinese solar products, the U.S. solar manufacturing industry and its workers greatly appreciate the Department of Commerce’s finding that importers of Chinese products have mounted a massive surge in product to evade accountability to U.S. and international trade law," said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., in a press release.

Read more at Sustainable Business Oregon.