A trade case filed by a duo of bankrupt solar firms could leave Trump an opening to undermine the solar industry and touch of a trade war with China. Will he take it?
President Trump ’s most useful ally in his push to restore the dominance of coal, oil and gas in America could ultimately turn out to be a pair of bankrupt solar firms seeking help from the federal government getting back on their feet.
In an unorthodox trade case roiling the solar industry worldwide, the duo of distressed panel makers is aiming to empower Trump with the authority to slap punishing tariffs on foreign competitors whose cheap panels have fueled the massive growth in U. S. solar installations.
The fallout from the case that was heard by the U. S. International Trade Commission Tuesday threatens to destabilize the American solar industry. Prices of panels would roughly double should the company get the relief it is seeking, several independent analysts warn. Some 88,000 jobs in U. S. the solar electricity sector — one in every three — would vanish, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn. California, with its robust solar industry, would lose the most by far.
The consequences for green power in the U. S. would be so serious that even conservative think tanks that have been tangling with the solar industry for years are speaking up on its behalf, warning Trump against imposing the sanctions. They are joined by big electricity companies that have had their own misgivings about the expansion of solar, as well as some of the nation’s biggest retailers and dozens of members of Congress.
But solar companies are bracing for the worst. Independent analysts tracking the industry are warning that Trump, who would be the ultimate decision maker on tariffs should the commission rule the bankrupt firms have been unfairly hurt, could easily pull the trigger on heavily taxing imported panels. It would be a rare opportunity for Trump to use his executive authority to punish the imports that a flagging segment of U. S. manufacturing blames for its troubles. The move would drive up the price of solar, enabling fossil fuel companies to recapture lost market share.
At a Washington hearing room packed with solar activists Tuesday, officials from Georgia-based Suniva and Oregon-based SolarWorld, the two bankrupt solar firms seeking relief, riled many of those present by arguing the levies are essential to the survival of solar manufacturing in America. “The U. S. is literally strewn with the carcasses of shuttered solar manufacturing companies, ” said Suniva attorney Matthew McConkey. He said American companies that design and produce photovoltaic panels are “on the precipice of extinction” in the U. S. amid the crush of cheap imports flooding the market and need the administration to intervene.
