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).
Impeachment charges against President Donald Trump went to the full House on Friday, following approval by the House Judiciary Committee.
Boris Johnson's gamble on early elections paid off as voters gave the UK prime minister a commanding majority to take the country out of the European Union by the end of January, a decisive result after more than three years of stalemate over Brexit.
A self-described activist, Zozibini Tunzi said she hopes to continue her work against gender-based violence and in favor of gender equality.
The U.S. residential solar market posted its biggest quarter on record in Q3 2019, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables.
The House Judiciary Committee launched a lively, marathon session Thursday ahead of voting on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, a historic step as the deeply partisan panel prepares to send the charges to the full House.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced on Wednesday that interest rates will remain unchanged and could stay there for some time to come.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, is Time's 2019 Person of the Year. The 16-year-old is the youngest person to ever receive the honor
Google's 'Year in Search' report is out, and it shows what we've all been looking for in 2019.
The New York State Department of Financial Services has proposed new guidance for licensed cryptocurrency firms that would make it easier for them to add new coins to their offerings, Superintendent Linda Lacewell announced Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
