https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tr ... mg00000009For the past five years, the solar industry in the United States has boomed, becoming a reliable employment engine and giving hope to policymakers seeking to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
But late Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump approved import fees that analysts say will send the price of solar panels surging and halt hiring in an industry that has grown 17 times faster than the U.S. economy.
“It’s political fodder to make the United States look like it’s tough on China, and it’s protecting American jobs,” Noah Ginsburg, a director at a New York-based nonprofit that helps low-income communities install solar panels, told HuffPost. “But the reality on the ground is deploying these tariffs will destroy American jobs and negatively impact anyone who wants to participate in and benefit from clean energy.”
Solar companies created 1 in 50 new jobs in the U.S. in 2016, with the help of imported solar panels that drastically reduced prices. (The Solar Foundation projects that number will be even higher for 2017; its report on last year’s figures is due out in a few weeks.) Most of those jobs are at companies that install solar panels on rooftops and build large solar farms for utilities and big corporations.
So lose jobs to protect jobs. I think it would help the energy business by putting the same percent fees on oil imports, that would stimulate job growth.