Beijing fires back against US solar tariff

China reacted Thursday to US solar tariffs passed down last week by saying that six US clean-tech projects in five US states are operating in violation of international trade law, The Wall Street Journal reported. China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the US of illegally helping its domestic solar industry but did not release details on its investigations into the US projects, saying the results were preliminary. The US decided last week to impose a 31% tariff on Chinese solar panels that are allegedly being “dumped” on the US market below cost. Four Chinese solar equipment manufacturers, Yingli Green Energy Holdings (YGE.NYSE, YG11.FRA), Suntech Power Holdings (STP.NYSE , S9H.FRA), Trina Solar (TSL.NYSE, TR3.FRA) and Canadian Solar (CSIQ.NASDAQ, L5A.FRA), announced in a separate news conference Thursday that they were forming a “Solar Energy Promotion Alliance” to fight US allegations.