The United States Department of Commerce also set initial countervailing duties ranging from 86% to 143% on imports from Indonesia and 81% on shipments from Laos. The rates are based on findings that foreign subsidies enabled exporters from these nations to undercut domestic U.S. solar producers.
Following the announcement, shares of Waaree Energies fell as much as 15% before trimming some losses. However, in an interaction with ET Now, the company indicated that its expanding U.S. manufacturing footprint is expected to cushion the impact of the duties.
Abhishek Pareek, Chief Financial Officer of Waaree Energies, said the company will not revise its capital expenditure plans and remains firm on its capex guidance. He added that the firm is on track to achieve — and potentially surpass — its stated targets. Pareek also emphasised that the steep tariffs have had no impact on Waaree’s local manufacturing operations in the United States, where it currently has a total installed capacity of 4.2 GW.
Detailing the company’s U.S. footprint, Pareek said Waaree already operates a 1.6 GW manufacturing facility in the U.S., acquired an additional 1 GW last year, and has another 1.6 GW under development. “Our total capacity in the U.S. of 4.2 GW is strong enough for our entire U.S. supplies,” he said.
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He explained that there are two key safeguards. First, local U.S. manufacturing naturally insulates the company from tariffs imposed on imports into the country. Second, even for exports from India, Waaree’s supply chains are diversified and globally distributed — including sourcing from the Middle East, where its polysilicon manufacturing is starting up, as well as from African and European markets — which helps mitigate the impact of such duty scenarios.
Pareek noted that the company has already navigated an “era of new tariffs” over the past year, including duties of around 50% on Indian exports. Despite this, exports have remained resilient, demonstrating the company’s ability to sustain shipments even amid tariff announcements.He added that Waaree’s focus remains on securing reliable supply chains and expanding local U.S. operations to ensure timely deliveries at competitive costs, thereby limiting the potential impact of the newly announced duties.
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To be sure, these duties would be different from Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, which the US Supreme Court struck down last week. In response, Trump issued new 10% tariffs that he’s threatened to raise to 15%. The US President also struck a bilateral trade deal with India earlier this month that sought to reduce economic tensions between the countries.
India, Indonesia and Laos accounted for a massive 57% of solar-module imports to the US in the first half of 2025, according to BloombergNEF. Some developers had shifted to sourcing panels from there after the US imposed steep duties on four Southeast Asian countries that had at one point made up the bulk of imports.
At about 12:40 pm, Waaree Energies share prices were trading at Rs 2,690, lower by 11.10% from the last close on the BSE.
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