US waives tariffs on solar panels from Vietnam. (Source: Laodong)

The White House said in a statement that the tax waiving applies to solar panels imported from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand to ensure the US has access to a sufficient supply of solar modules to meet electricity generation needs while domestic manufacturing scales up.

The US President also activated the Defence Production Act (DPA) to boost solar panel production in the US.

The White House emphasised that clean energy technologies now play an important part in reducing energy costs for homes, thus minimising risks to the electricity supply in the country.

The US has set the target of tripling domestic solar manufacturing capacity by 2024, from 7.5 gigawatts to 22.5 gigawatts, enough to enable 3.3 million households to switch to solar each year.