Nearly 100,000 Solar Jobs in Jeopardy with Solar Tariff Decision

(WASHINGTON, DC – September 22, 2017) The International Trade Commission today decided that domestic solar manufacturers Suniva and Solarworld have sustained “serious injury” from imported solar products. President Trump will make the final decision on whether to impose tariffs or other trade remedies on solar cells and/or modules produced outside the United States.

“The fate of one of the fastest job creating industries is now in the hands of President Trump, whose No. 1 campaign promise is job creation. If the president truly wants to keep well-paying jobs in America today, he will not deal a serious blow to the solar industry by imposing a tariff. A tariff would substantially reduce the demand for solar projects by raising costs. It would also cede solar leadership to other countries, threaten thousands of well-paying clean energy jobs, and slow the rapid expansion of solar energy in this country.”

According to a Greentech Media report in June, America could lose out on 47 gigawatts (GW) of solar installations with a solar tariff on cells and modules, which is more than the U.S. solar market has deployed to-date. That also means the opportunity to avoid 46-110 million metric tons of CO2 emissions would be gone — that’s one to two-and-half times larger than the total carbon emissions for Sweden. 

• Lenae Shirley, Senior Director, Technology Innovation and Market Adoption