Solar Panel Tariffs Lead to Major Job Losses and Project Cancellations

The story

• Developers are canceling or freezing more than $2.5 billion in large solar installation projects in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign solar panels, Reuters reports.

Whom it affects

• Thousands of jobs are also being lost in the process.
• The impact is more than double the new spending from firms that are expanding domestic manufacturing to take advantage of the savings. Even those new facilities tend to be highly automated, bringing few new jobs with them.
• The U.S. solar industry employs more than 250,000 people — roughly three times more than the coal industry — with about 40 percent of those people in installation and 20 percent in manufacturing.

The two sides of tariffs

• The tariffs have benefited the manufacturing side but harmed the installation side, in what the New York Times calls a “bifurcated impact” that “underscores how protectionist trade measures almost invariably hurt one or more domestic industries for every one they shield from foreign competition.”
• Some analysts speculate that China’s plan to cut its solar power subsidies dramatically could counteract the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
• Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would rescind the tariff, but it’s not clear if they are likely to progress.

What do you think?

Do you think tariffs are appropriate? If so, under what circumstances? If not, why not? Do you think the solar panel tariff is beneficial or detrimental to U.S. interests? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: skeeze)