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).
Former Massachusetts governor and co-chair of American Bridge, Patrick Deval talks House police reform bill and need for republicans to stop governing out of fear.
A government watchdog says nearly 1.1 million relief payments totaling some $1.4 billion went to dead people in the government’s coronavirus aid program.
The daily U.S. count of new coronavirus cases stood near an all-time high Thursday.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can deport some people seeking asylum without allowing them to make their case to a federal judge.
The number of laid-off workers who applied for unemployment benefits fell to 1.48 million last week, the 12th straight drop and a sign that layoffs are slowing but are still at a painfully high level.
As the coronavirus sweeps the globe, Youtube is a leading outlet for information regarding the virus. Youtube chief product officer talks prioritizing channels and videos with relevant information as well as weeding out fake news.
A prosecutor has announced that three men have been indicted on murder charges in the killing of a Black man in coastal Georgia, Ahmaud Arbery.
Coronavirus hospitalizations and caseloads have hit new highs in over a half-dozen U.S. states as signs of the virus' resurgence grow.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that travelers to New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey from states with rising coronavirus rates must isolate for 14 days.
President Trump took to Twitter to threaten lengthy prison sentences for anyone caught vandalizing federal monuments.
