President Donald Trump’s attempt to create U.S. jobs by taxing solar panel imports could backfire.
That’s according to the CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, who says it’s domestic workers that will feel the pain.
“We have been the fastest growing form of new energy...and this is putting the brakes on that crazy growth,” Abigail Ross Hopper told Cheddar in an interview. “These are not people who are looking for what nationality the company they work for is. They just want to feed their families and pay their mortgages. And those are the people whose jobs are at risk.”
Earlier this week President Trump signed a law that would impose a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panel and sells, a move the administration says will encourage domestic manufacturing.
But the SEIA says the vast majority of the 260,000 Americans employed in the industry work in peripheral industries like installation. Ross Hopper says the bill will result in 23,000 layoffs this year and delay or cancel billions of dollars of investment in the sector.
She also says it might dissuade U.S. consumers from going green.
“Most [businesses and consumers] want to choose solar because it saves them money,” she said. “This decision changes that calculus.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/solar-power-in-america).
A chopper crash killed top Ukrainian lawmakers, Arizona fight over water, and the TSA found a record number of firearms last year. Here is everything you Need2Know for Wednesday, January 18, 2023.
A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children, Ukrainian authorities said.
The world is in a “sorry state" because of myriad “interlinked” challenges including climate change and Russia's war in Ukraine that are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash,” the U.N. chief said at the World Economic Forum's meeting Wednesday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the outlines for her “Green Deal Industrial Plan” at the World Economic Forum at Davos.
For the first time in decades, China has fewer people than it did at the start of last year, according to official figures released Tuesday.
Solomon Pena was arrested in connection with a recent series of drive-by shootings targeting Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico.
The request comes after the White House's weekend disclosure that more classified records were found at the president's Delaware residence.
The winter meetup of CEOs and heads of state is the first since 2020.
The U.S. Treasury notified Congress that the debt ceiling could hit next week.
Google said a liability case before the Supreme Court could potentially "upend the internet" and lead to massive censorship online.
