Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy

It’s almost as if the president of the United States is trying to protect the oil and gas industry. Actually, that’s exactly what it is.

In the biggest blow he’s dealt to the renewable energy industry yet, Trump decided on Monday [July 1, 2019] to slap tariffs on imported solar panels.  The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent of its supply.

The tariffs are just the latest action Trump has taken that undermine the economics of renewable energy. The administration has already decided to pull the U.S. out of the international Paris climate agreement, rolled back Obama-era regulations on power plant-emissions and passed sweeping tax reforms that constrained financing for solar and wind. The import taxes, however, will prove to be the most targeted strike on the industry yet.

The Solar Energy Industries Association has projected tens of thousands of job losses in a sector that employed 260,000.

Source: https://time.com/5113472/donald-trump-solar-panel-tariff/