President Donald Trump imposed stiff tariffs on imported solar panels Monday, in a bid to protect U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Trump has often promised to get tough with China and other exporters that he says compete unfairly with U.S. manufacturers.
The tariffs start out at 30 percent on solar panels and decline over time. Two solar panel manufacturing companies were seeking even higher taxes to protect them from competition by low-cost imports, in the hope of reviving their troubled firms.
The $28-billion solar energy industry employs 260,000 people in the United States. However, a solar industry trade group says only one-seventh of the industry’s workers manufacture panels, while the rest install them. The Solar Energy Industries Association says the new tariffs will cost tens of thousands of U.S. jobs and delay or cancel billions of dollars in clean energy investment.
China and other nations that face these new tariffs may challenge the decision at the World Trade Organization.
…