On October 9, 2021, former US President Donald Trump reacted during a speech at an Iowa rally in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. REUTERS/Rachel Mummey

New York, November 16 (Reuters)-On Tuesday, a US judge in charge of trade issues overturned then President Donald Trump's decision to allow re-imposition of tariffs on some imported solar panels.

The judgement of the US Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann's ruling was a failure for some domestic manufacturers.

A year ago, he ruled that Trump’s announcement in October 2020 to withdraw tariff exemptions for double-sided or double-sided solar panels did not violate an earlier court order.

Katzman wrote on Tuesday that Trump’s statement was an “obvious misunderstanding” of a law that allowed measures to be liberalized rather than restricting trade, and “constituted an action outside the scope of the president’s authority.”

The stock price of First Solar Inc (FSLR.O), a large American solar panel manufacturer, fell after the decision, dropping 7.1% in afternoon trading.

The Biden administration has defended Trump, saying that he took legal action to plug a "loophole" that he believed would undermine the protection of tariffs against "explosive" increases in imports.

The US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bifacial technology is a small but growing part of the solar panel market. Compared with traditional solar panels, it costs more, but can generate more power.

Trump has said that extending the exemption may reduce the effectiveness of tariffs designed to help protect the domestic solar industry from the impact of import growth.

But the Solar Energy Industry Association, a trade organization, believes that higher tariffs may wipe out billions of dollars in domestic investment every year.

The organization and some solar power plants filed a lawsuit against the announcement in December last year, claiming that Trump's actions did not go through the necessary procedures.

The organization’s president, Abigail Rose Hopper, said in a statement that Trump’s statement was an “illegal attempt to strengthen tariffs” and that Katzman’s findings were “obviously the correct conclusion.”

The United States imposed a four-year tariff on solar panel imports in 2018, starting from 30% and dropping to 15% in the final year. Trump’s announcement raised the latter’s tax rate to 18%.

The case is Solar Energy Industries Association et al v US et al, United States Court of International Trade, No. 20-03941.

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