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Headlines:
Washington's 80% Solar Wall
Voice Silenced as Votes Are Cast
One Party, One Vote, One Result
Court Kills Tariffs, Trump Resurrects Them in 24 Hours
Rate Cut as the Kip Wobbles
Australia Pays $1.5M for Vang Vieng's Tab
830 Megawatts of Sunshine, Fast-Tracked
ADB Bets $42.9M on Border Livestock
Chinese Jets Revive the Đà Nẵng Run
Canberra Tightens the Infrastructure Checklist
Washington's 80% Solar Wall
The U.S. Commerce Department slapped preliminary countervailing duties of 80.67% to 125.87% on solar panel imports from India, Indonesia, and Laos on Tuesday, targeting $4.5 billion worth of shipments that made up two-thirds of America's solar supply last year. The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, backed by Hanwha Qcells and First Solar, pushed for the duties to protect billions in U.S. factory investments from what they call unfairly subsidized competition. The 80.67% rate applies to Laotian imports generally, though Commerce calculated individual rates for specific producers. Commerce will issue a second ruling on whether these companies dumped products below cost, with final determinations due later this year. The case is similar to earlier actions that put tariffs on Malaysian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Thai imports after accusations that Chinese manufacturers hopped borders to dodge U.S. trade barriers.
Read more: Trading View (anti-dumping rates), Slguardian (supply chain impacts), News Az
Voice Silenced as Votes Are Cast
Anti-corruption activist Bao Mo Khaen was found dead in a forest on February 21, ten days after soldiers grabbed him near his home in Vientiane. His family confirmed the death on February 23, the same day voters were casting ballots in this weekend's single-party election. Khaen had posted videos calling out government corruption and limits on free speech, drawing more death threats in recent months. His case fits a pattern where bodies of missing activists turn up near motorcycles, deaths written off as traffic accidents. Days before the vote, Valy Vetsaphong, one of only six non-communist party members in the National Assembly and a vocal critic of financial crime, pulled her name from the ballot after a decade in parliament. The 56-year-old lawmaker from Vientiane had demanded corrupt officials be "punished and demoted as in other countries" rather than merely warned, and pushed for a complete overhaul of the financial sector to address the currency crisis. Her departure triggered rare public dissent on social media, with comments calling her "number one in the hearts of the people" and warning that "those who speak for the people are often eliminated." Vetsaphong claimed a desire to focus on economic development work.
Read more: AsiaNews, Yahoo News
One Party, One Vote, One Result
Voters went to the polls on February 22, with 4.76 million eligible to pick 175 National Assembly deputies from 243 candidates and 745 provincial council members from 1,041 candidates. The single-party ballot, run under the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, came weeks after the party's 12th Congress re-elected Thongloun Sisoulith as General Secretary for a second term. President Thongloun and Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone both cast ballots publicly in Vientiane as polling stations opened across all 17 provinces and the capital. The newly seated assembly will shape policy through 2030. Official results haven't been released yet, but early figures should be available within days.
Read more: Laotian Times, Asia News Network
Court Kills Tariffs, Trump Resurrects Them in 24 Hours
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariff regime on February 20, ruling 6-3 that he'd overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Within a day, Trump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to slap a new tariff on all US imports, starting at 10 percent before bumping it to 15 percent via Truth Social. The emergency measure buys the administration 150 days to craft new country-specific duties. For Lao exporters, that's a temporary reprieve from the 40 percent rate imposed last April, one of the steepest levies Washington handed out despite the country accounting for less than 0.03 percent of America's roughly $3 trillion in yearly imports. The administration has already warned more tariffs are coming, and the 150-day window gives it room to recalibrate rates country by country.
Read more: Laotian Times
Rate Cut as the Kip Wobbles
The central bank trimmed its seven-day basic interest rate from 8.5% to 8% on Friday, its first monetary policy move of 2026. The cut comes as policymakers point to a still-fragile economic base, strong demand for foreign currency to service external debt, and exchange rate fluctuations that won’t be going away any time soon. They are expecting inflation to come in around 5% while keeping a managed float exchange rate, a setup that gives them room to smooth volatility without committing to defend any particular level. Borrowing will get slightly cheaper, but the important message is the bank's anxiety about kip stability.
Read more: Dmarketforces, News Az
Australia Pays $1.5M for Vang Vieng's Tab
Australia promised to pony up AUD 1.5 million to upgrade food and alcohol safety systems, more than a year after methanol-laced drinks killed six foreign tourists in Vang Vieng, including two Australians. The money will go to laboratory upgrades, improved inspection protocols, and data-sharing systems to catch contamination risks earlier. Authorities also plan to sort out which agencies handle what, an unspoken admission that the status quo isn’t working. Canberra formally raised the poisoning case with Lao officials in February, after victims' families complained about sparse updates and a lack of transparency. Also see the last story for another Australian-backed project this week.
Read more: Travel and Tour World (regulatory overlap), Laotian Times
830 Megawatts of Sunshine, Fast-Tracked
Twelve solar farms with a total 830 megawatts of capacity are being fast-tracked by Electricité du Laos, along with a push to complete the Nam Ngum 3 hydropower project by 2027, as the state utility races to keep up with climbing demand. Director General Akhomdeth Vongsay told officials at EDL's February 20 review meeting that consumption keeps rising, making new generation urgent. EDL handled 19,298 GWh last year, up 3 percent, with 17,828 GWh going to domestic consumers and exports. The utility also plans transmission upgrades for the 115 kV network, will restructure electricity tariffs to better reflect actual supply costs, and, above all else, says that low-income households will be protected.
Read more: Laotian Times
ADB Bets $42.9M on Border Livestock
The Asian Development Bank just put $42.9 million behind a seven-year livestock push in six border provinces to cut animal disease, formalize cross-border trade, and build out digital tracking systems through 2032. Phongsaly, Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, Xayabouly, Xiengkhouang, and Savannakhet will get the cash - they are all provinces where herds and traders routinely cross into Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
Read more: Laotian Times
Chinese Jets Revive the Da Nang Run
Lao Airlines is restarting direct Vientiane to Da Nang flights on March 29, twice weekly on the Chinese-made Comac C909. The route has had a rough history: an ATR-72 that needed a stopover in Pakse, then a 180-seat Airbus A320 in 2023 that proved far too much plane for demand that never properly materialized. The 90-seat C909 splits the difference, matching capacity to a market that's grown since the pandemic but hasn't quite recovered. Da Nang expects 19 million tourists this year, most of them from Korea and China.
Read more: Travel and Tour World
Canberra Tightens the Infrastructure Checklist
In the second of the pair of Australian-backed reform deals this week, the Department of Environment signed an MoU with The Asia Foundation, backed by Canberra's Mekong-Australia Partnership, to tighten environmental and social impact assessments for hydropower and infrastructure projects. The deal covers oversight of transport, energy, and water projects, with reviews focused on climate risk. Deputy Minister Dr Saynakhone Phommalath says that it’s going to improve risk management; developers will find it means longer approval timelines and tighter compliance checks.
Read more: Travel and Tour World
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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