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).
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, March 4, 2020.
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and has endorsed Joe Biden.
A resurgent Joe Biden scored sweeping victories across the country with the backing of a diverse coalition and progressive rival Bernie Sanders seized Super Tuesday’s biggest prize with a win in California as the Democratic Party’s once-crowded presidential field suddenly transformed into a two-man contest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 785 points and bond prices surged after an emergency interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to reassure markets racked by worries that a fast-spreading virus outbreak could lead to a recession.
HotelPlanner CEO Tim Hentschel told Cheddar that the travel industry is taking the worst hit it has seen in nearly two decades thanks to the coronavirus outbreak paralyzing multiple countries.
Stocks are whipping up and down after the Federal Reserve swooped into the market with an emergency rate cut in hopes of shielding the economy from the effects of the fast-spreading virus. Tuesday's surprise move gave stocks a strong, brief boost, but it took just 15 minutes for the gains to evaporate.
Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the virus “will surely weigh on economic activity both here and abroad for some time.” It was the Fed's first rate cut since last year, when it reduced its key short-term rate three times.
The Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a half-percentage point in its first emergency rate cut since the Great Recession in response to the spreading coronavirus.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
Dow Jones skyrockets on hopes central banks protect the economy from the coronavirus outbreak.
