Will the economic and social benefits of the solar panel tariffs outweigh their costs? Not likely.
[The Solar Energy Industries Association] estimates the job losses will number 23,000 for this year, and result in «billions lost in investment.» SEIA President Abigail Hopper condemned Trump’s decision in a statement.
«While tariffs in this case will not create adequate cell or module manufacturing to meet U. S. demand, or keep foreign-owned Suniva and SolarWorld afloat, they will create a crisis in a part of our economy that has been thriving, which will ultimately cost tens of thousands of hard-working, blue-collar Americans their jobs,» she said.
The majority of the current 260,000 solar jobs are in installation, with only 38,000 (or 14%) in manufacturing. Moreover, the case threatened two-thirds of future utility-scale solar installations set to come online in the next five years, which is the biggest and most vulnerable solar market.
