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).
Marc Lotter, former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, says Omarosa Manigault Newman's decision to record a conversation with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Situation Room was a violation "of every protocol
[and] procedure." He also says allegations in Manigault Newman's book contradict the former "Apprentice" contestant's previous statements about President Trump.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" opened nationwide on Friday, on the eve of the anniversary of the Charlottesville riots ー and that's no coincidence. The movie recalls the true story of Ron Stallworth, a black Colorado Springs police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.
In an election year when a record number of women are running for Congress, one of New York's two Democratic Senators says women voices ー and their votes ー "couldn't be more important." Senator Gillibrand also told Cheddar's Hope King that women should lead the opposition to Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, Aug. 10.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Allegations that Wilbur Ross stole millions from colleagues and employees may not cost him his job as Secretary of Commerce, says Dan Alexander, the Forbes writer who reported on Ross's business dealings. "I don't see him as somebody who is likely to step down because of embarrassment or anything like that," Alexander says.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Rick Wilson, GOP strategist and author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies," believes the Democratic Party could have a solid midterm election season. An endorsement by Trump for Republican primary candidate is "magic," he said. But in a general election, "it's a boat anchor around your neck in deep, deep waters."
Rep. Darren Soto of Florida says Republicans are running a campaign "on fear and on division" because President Trump's policies have failed to address voters' economic insecurities. GOP candidates pushing xenophobic immigration policies are trying to "scare people to the ballot box," Soto says.
