Donald Trump’s Tariff on Imported Solar Panels Will Cost 23,000 Jobs: SEIA

The Donald Trump administration has decided to slap a whopping 30 percent tariff on solar cells and washing machines imported from China.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has stated that the 30 percent tariffs on imported solar panels and cells will cost the United States 23,000 jobs.

Angered by the Trump’s decision, the trade body, rubbished by the trade case’s petitioners as a mouthpiece for Chinese manufacturers, has argued throughout that jobs downstream will be made vulnerable as a result of any action.

Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO, SEIA, said, “While tariffs in this case will not create adequate cell or module manufacturing to meet US 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.”

Suniva and SolarWorld Americas had been pressing for tariffs of 50 percent.

Tony Clifford, chief development officer, Standard Solar, “It boggles my mind that this president – any president, really – would voluntarily choose to damage one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy.”

“This decision is misguided and denies the reality that bankrupt foreign companies will be the beneficiaries of an American taxpayer bailout,” Clifford added.

The Donald Trump administration has decided to slap a whopping 30 percent tariff on solar cells and washing machines imported from China.