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).
The vote on the rules for the debate passed 228 to 197, signaling that few lawmakers plan to defect parties, and now representatives will move to those six hours of debate about the articles, themselves.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, December 18, 2019.
Lizzie Post, author of "Higher Etiquette" talked to Cheddar about minding one's manners around marijuana during the holidays.
President Donald Trump, in a fiery letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is objecting to impeachment articles and accuses Democrats of “subverting” democracy. Trump's letter to the speaker came as Democrats were pushing ahead toward a Wednesday vote expected to result in his impeachment.
The middle-of-the-night moves on Capitol Hill blindsided the solar sector. The industry had launched an ambitious lobbying effort this summer to extend the industry's tax credit and until last night had believed that an extension would be included in the tax packages.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
Cheddar's Justin Chermol spent time with Mayor Pete boosters in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
U.S. stocks rallied in early trading Monday, rising with European and several Asian markets after China, the world's second-largest economy, reported surprisingly strong signs of life.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, December 16, 2019.
Led by Advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump, the White House Summit on Child Care and Paid Leave is the first major meeting on the issue by the Trump Administration.
