American solar manufacturer SunPower has announced restructuring plans in the wake of Donald Trump’s imposition of a 30% tariff on solar modules and cells following a Section 201 trade case, which will see the company cut up to 250 jobs and incur restructuring costs of between $20 million and $30 million.
Three Canadian solar manufacturers — Silfab Solar, Heliene, and Canadian Solar — have filed a lawsuit with the US Court of International Trade in New York against Donald Trump’s imposition of 30% tariffs on all imported solar cells and modules, citing “immediate, severe, and irreversible injuries” for the Canadian solar industry.
China has this week filed complaints with the World Trade Organization seeking talks on compensation with the United States for the recent tariffs that President Donald Trump signed off on for imported solar cells and modules and washing machines.
The US solar industry lost nearly 10,000 jobs in 2017 according to latest figures from the National Solar Job Census 2017 published this week by The Solar Foundation, the first year that jobs have decreased since the Foundation began publishing its Census in 2010.
The recent news about tariffs on Chinese solar panels brought out how little MSNBC staff follow the energy industry and how little they understand what the problems are with this specific trade case. Bringing in CNBC Editor-at-Large John Harwood didn’t help either, as he also didn’t note (and didn’t seem to not know) the most important points of the story.
After 8 months of uncertainty and vitriol, US President Donald Trump has decided this week to impose a 30% tariff on imported solar cells and modules in response to a Section 201 trade case filed by Suniva and SolarWorld back in April of 2017, a move which will likely cost 23,000 American jobs this year.
Abigail Ross Hopper, the Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO, made a personal plea on Wednesday to US President Donald Trump to reject imposing high tariffs on solar imports and risking tens of thousands of US-based jobs.
The recent Section 201 solar trade case that has passed through the US International Trade Commission has undone some of the progress made by President Obama’s SunShot Initiative which sought to lower solar costs to make them cost-competitive with other forms of energy.
The US International Trade Commission published on Tuesday recommendations for import tariffs on solar PV cells and modules as part of the Section 201 trade case which has been in motion much of this year, and though any tariffs are harmful, the proposals were not as bad as many within the solar industry were fearing.
Major US businesses and members of the Ceres BICEP Network have this week added their voices to the many already hoping the US International Trade Commission will reconsider imposing a solar tariff following the ruling in the Suniva and SolarWorld Section 201 solar trade case.
