Recently, the US government increased tariffs on imports to protect its own interests. Here is the impact of the new American tariff policy.
Hong Kong media said US President Trump signed a law on January 23 that would impose high tariffs on imported solar panels. The move is seen as protecting American jobs but the solar sector. The industry said the move would increase the price of solar panels in the United States, reduce social demand and ultimately put tens of thousands of local workers in the U.S. photovoltaic industry out of work, amounting to shoot yourself in the foot.
According to an article published on January 24 on the Hong Kong Economic Daily website, in order to help American companies struggling to compete with low-cost foreign products, the governmentThe US government has implemented trade protection measures against imported products. photovoltaic products and imposed the highest tax on solar panels. A hefty tax of up to 30%. This will put people back to work and we will start making our own products again, Trump said when signing the executive order.
However, it should be noted that China is currently the world's largest producer of solar panels. The United States limits the importation of these products from China, which means reducing the supply there. the American market. This would have the opportunity to drive up the price of photovoltaic products on the American market, and American industry and consumers would suffer the consequences.
Reuters quoted Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the American Solar Energy Industries Association, as saying we are not happy to see this decisionaccording to basic economic data, if you increase the price. The price of your product, , will reduce the demand for the product.
US industry estimates that reducing imports of Chinese photovoltaic products will increase the cost of installing solar panels in the United States, prevent billions of dollars of investment and will kill tens of thousands of people. jobs. Therefore, some are wondering whether Trump's decision will be counterproductive and lead to large-scale layoffs.
The association predicts that this tariff action could reduce the 11 gigawatts of solar power installed in the United States this year by 2 gigawatts, resulting in a loss of 23,000 jobs this year. .
The U.S. solar industry employs more than 260,000 people, more than five times the number of people working in the coal industry. Around 14% of them are engageded in production work and the vast majority of remaining employees are installation workers.
Research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates that this tariff will reduce the number of new solar panel installations in the United States by 10 to 15 percent over the next five years. Arizona Republican Senator McCain tweeted that imposing tariffs on solar panels was nothing more than a tax on consumers.