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).
Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Thaaning Pedersen spoke to Cheddar about beginning production of its wind power farm off the coast of Massachusetts.
President Joe Biden is set to announce that he's shaving about two weeks off his May 1 deadline for states to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccines.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging the adoption of a minimum global corporate income tax.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass. 4th District), spoke to Cheddar on how Democrats were insistent on passing Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan even without bipartisan assistance.
Utah’s governor has signed a law requiring biological fathers to pay half of a woman’s out-of-pocket pregnancy costs.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Heather Boushey, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, spoke to Cheddar about the Biden administration's positive outlook on the future of U.S. jobs and the economy.
Major League Baseball has moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta’s Truist Park, a response to Georgia enacting a new law last month restricting voting rights.
A Capitol Police officer has been killed after a man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol and then emerged wielding a knife.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Friday to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting a COVID-19 test or going into quarantine.
