The Department of Commerce (DOC) determined Friday that five Chinese solar panel companies have been dodging U.S. tariffs by directing their operations through other Asian countries not subject to the import restrictions.

The DOC found in its probe that Trina Solar, Canadian Solar, BYD, and Vina Solar have all used other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia, as conduits to evade tariffs designed to protect the relatively young American solar industry from Chinese competitors that can undercut them with a cost advantage, which in some cases may be derived from the use slave labor of detained Uyghur Muslims in supply chains.

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