Maxeon filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for preventing Maxeon panels from entering the country.
Solar panel assembly at Maxeon’s facility in Mexico.
The solar panel manufacturer has been battling “erroneous” actions by the agency for almost two years, as the CBP holds Mexican-assembled Maxeon panels for reviews under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). Maxeon has provided the necessary information showing its supply chains and no documented connection to alleged forced labor conditions in China, yet CBP continues to detain the modules.
In March 2025, CBP denied Maxeon’s protests on the detained shipments of solar panels. CBP offered only a “generic and arbitrary conclusion that the documentation submitted by Maxeon was supposedly insufficient,” despite the company providing thousands of pages of documents demonstrating full compliance. In July 2025, Maxeon filed the complaint with CIT.
The panel detention has been a huge blow to Maxeon, especially since the once-global company now only focuses on the U.S. market. Maxeon sold its European, Asian and Latin American sales channels and entities, while keeping its Mexican assembly plant and moving forward with plans for a 2-GW solar panel factory in New Mexico. With most products unable to get into the country, Maxeon financials have nosedived. The company reported $39 million in revenue for the first six months of 2025, whereas it reached $371 million for the same period in 2024. Plans for the U.S. factory have been paused.
The CIT was scheduled to provide an update on this case in mid-October, but the government shutdown prevented any progress, and no update has since been released.
Qcells also had solar cells detained by CBP under UFLPA review. The Korean company was importing the solar cells for module assembly at its factories in Georgia, and the inconsistent supply forced Qcells to furlough 1,000 employees and initiate a reduced work schedule in early fall. Qcells said imports were eventually cleared through CBP, as the products were compliant with UFLPA rules, but it would take time to ramp the factories back up to a full workforce. Qcells has taken no further action against the federal agency.
