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).
Four former presidents are urging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as COVID-19 doses are available to them, as part of a campaign to overcome hesitancy for the shots.
You can’t separate classic New York City architecture from the fire escape. They’re all over.
President Joe Biden is outlining his plan to make all adult Americans eligible for vaccination by May 1 and get the nation back “closer to normal” by the Fourth of July.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson defended his decision to keep much of the economy, including schools, open during the pandemic., as well as signing a near-total abortion ban bill.
When the World Health Organization declared a pandemic one year ago on Thursday, it did so only after weeks of resisting the term and maintaining the coronavirus could still be stopped.
Prince William says that his family is not racist, becoming the first British royal to speak out about accusations of bigotry made by Prince Harry and Meghan, his brother and sister-in-law.
Congress has sent President Joe Biden the landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.
Eisenhower’s interstate system was the biggest infrastructure project of its time. What justified the cost was its potential to connect all corners of America, but the unforeseen impacts of the highway system seemed to do the opposite of the intention.
Dr. Anne Zink, chief medical officer for the state of Alaska, spoke to Cheddar about Alaska's remarkable task of getting COVID vaccines to a widespread populace even as the state opens up eligibility to nearly everyone.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy says Alaska has become the first state to drop eligibility requirements and allow anyone 16 or older who lives or works in the state to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
