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).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send the article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday.
Cheddar takes a look at newly installed President Joe Biden's personal stamp on the Oval Office.
After President Joe Biden’s inauguration went off with only a handful of minor arrests and incidents, more than 15,000 National Guard members are preparing to leave Washington, D.C., and head home.
President Joe Biden is putting into play his national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses, and increase the use of masks.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Democrat, talked to Cheddar about why he believes that former President Trump deserves harsh punishment in connection to the Capitol Hill riots on January 6.
Janet Yellen, set to become the first female treasury secretary, spoke before the Senate Finance Committee and laid out her case for aggressive fiscal action in the months ahead.
President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the pandemic says the United States will again fund the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe.
In his first address as the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden drove home the message that his administration will be one of unity and healing.
President Joe Biden has signed a series of executive orders from the Oval Office hours after his inauguration.
The push to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus is hitting a roadblock: A number of states are reporting they are running out of vaccine.
