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).
Bernie Sanders, who saw his once strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, has ended his presidential bid.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the Golden State had managed to secure a monthly supply of 200 million N95 respiratory and surgical masks, opening up the possibility of helping other states struggling to secure protective supplies.
Wayne County, where Detroit is located, is the third deadliest county in the nation, as its coronavirus death toll has recently climbed to 346, with African Americans accounting for more than 40 percent of that total
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze U.S. funding to the World Health Organization, saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Blair Braun from Wisconsin made her way to her polling place despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis but was upset by the necessity of having to do so following court reversals of attempts to postpone the primary or extend absentee voting.
With over 1,400 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city so far, San Diego is prepping for a surge in coronavirus patients.
A big rally on Wall Street is losing steam in afternoon trading Tuesday, undercut in part by another plunge in the price of oil.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday asked President Donald Trump to transition the USNS Comfort, docked at New York City, to begin transitioning to treat coronavirus patients.
Gov. Cuomo revealed that 731 people had died on Monday, the largest single-day increase, bringing the state's total reported death toll to 5,489, roughly half of the nation's total.
President Trump, in spite of his well-documented falsehoods, and mischaracterizations, has so far avoided the bipartisan perception of a “credibility gap” that bedeviled President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War era.
