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).
In a newly introduced bill, North Carolina Congressman, Ted Budd, is calling on the TSA to implement temperature checks at airport security check points.
The Justice Department says hackers working with the Chinese government targeted firms developing coronavirus vaccines and stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies worldwide.
As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, a new poll from NORC at the University of Chicago finds it's having different effects on Americans’ economic well-being.
Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings talks about the chaos around the issues of reopening schools amid the pandemic.
Hundreds of workers are rallying outside the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan and the Massachusetts Statehouse to protest systemic racism and economic inequality.
Georgia Democrats have selected state Sen. Nikema Williams, chair of the state party, to replace Rep. John Lewis on the ballot in November.
Steve Case, CEO of venture capital firm Revolution and co-founder of AOL, is making the case for supporting startups in a package that could put upwards of a trillion dollars into the economy.
President Donald Trump met with top Republican congressional leaders Monday at the White House on the next COVID-19 aid package.
The Amal, or Hope, orbiter is the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
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.
