Biden waives solar-panel tariffs, invokes defense law, White House confirms

FILE PHOTO: Solar panels are arrayed on Earth Day in Northfield, Massachusetts, U.S., April 22, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Monday invoked the Defense Production Act to spur U.S. solar panel manufacturing and exempted tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations for two years as part of his push for clean energy, the White House said.

The tariff waiver applies to panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and will serve as a "bridge" while U.S. manufacturing ramps up, it said in a statement, confirming a Reuters report.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; writing by Susan Heavey)