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).
States and Native American tribes will have greater authority to block energy projects such as natural gas pipelines that could pollute rivers and streams under a final rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration.
A federal judge has declared the DACA immigration program illegal but will allow the policy to continue for existing recipients.
A judge in former President Donald Trump's Georgia election case rejected the prosecution's request to try all of the co-defendants together.
Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he does not support criminal penalties for women who get abortions.
Hunter Biden has sued a former Trump White House aide over his alleged role in publishing emails and personal photos online.
A federal judge has declared the DACA immigration program illegal but will allow the policy to continue for existing recipients.
A federal judge has declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s husband has died in an airplane crash, her office said in a statement Wednesday.
A request by Mark Meadows for an emergency stay on a ruling that sent his Georgia election interference case back to state court has been denied.
Top tech leaders are meeting with Senators on Capitol Hill Wednesday about artificial intelligence.
