Trump targets Asia with tariffs on solar panels
Also takes aim at washing machines
WASHINGTON • U. S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines, his first major trade move after repeated threats to crack down on what he sees as unfair foreign competition.
The U. S. will impose new duties of as much as 30 per cent on foreign- made solar equipment, the U. S. Trade Representative’s office said Monday.
The president also approved tariffs starting as high as 50 per cent on imported washing machines, according to USTR.
The move on foreign solar panels threatens to handicap a US$ 28- billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 per cent of its supply. Just the mere threat of tariffs has shaken solar developers in recent months, with some hoarding panels and others stalling projects in anticipation of higher costs. The Solar Energy Industries Association has projected tens of thousands of job losses in a sector that employed 260,000.
The tariffs are just the l atest action Trump has taken that undermine the economics of renewable energy. The administration has already decided to pull the U. S. out of the international Paris climate agreement, rolled back Obama-era regulations on power plantemissions and passed sweeping tax reforms that constrained financing for solar and wind. The import taxes, however, will prove to be the most targeted strike on the industry yet.
“Developers may have to walk away from their projects,” Hugh Bromley, a New York- based analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in an interview before Trump’s decision. “Some rooftop solar companies may have to pull out” of some states.
For Trump, they may represent a step toward making good on a campaign promise to get tough on the country that produces the most panels — China. Trump’s trade issues took a back seat in 2017 while the White House focused on tax reform, but it’s now coming back into the fore.
The moves come as Trump prepares to travel to Davos f or the World Economic Forum, where the world’s business and political elite are meeting to discuss topics i ncluding t he backlash against globalization. The new tariffs will add teeth to the president’s “America First” foreign policy after months of threatening to get tough on what Trump sees as the unfair trade practices of nations such as China and South Korea.
“The president’s action makes clear again that the Trump administration will always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses in this regard,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
The two cases were filed under the seldom- used Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs to protect domestic industries.
The solar tariffs are lower than the 35 per cent the U. S. International Trade Commission recommended in October after finding that imported panels were harming American manufacturers. The ITC was responding to a complaint by Suniva Inc., a bankrupt U. S. panel maker that sought duties on solar cells and panels.
In the washing machine case, Trump was responding to an ITC recommendation in November of tariffs following a complaint by Whirlpool Corp., which accused Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. of selling washing machines in the U. S. below fair- market value.
Trump opted for the most punitive recommendation by ITC judges for residential washers. He ordered a 20-per-cent tariff on imports under 1.2 million units, and 50 per cent on all subsequent imports in the first year, with duties lowering in the next two years.
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