DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus President Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy

President Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy

By BRIAN ECKHOUSE, ARI NATTER AND CHRISTOPHER MARTIN / BLOOMBERG January 22, 2018

In the biggest blow he’s dealt to the renewable energy industry yet, President Donald Trump decided on Monday to slap tariffs on imported solar panels.

The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent 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 latest 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 plant-emissions 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.

U.S. panel maker First Solar Inc. jumped 9 percent to $75.20 in after-hours trading in New York. The Tempe, Arizona-based manufacturer stands to gain as costs for competing, foreign panels rise. First Solar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Solar Energy Industries Association also didn’t immediately respond.

The first 2.5 gigawatts of imported solar cells will be exempt from the tariffs, Trump said in a statement Monday. The president approved four years of tariffs that start at 30 percent in the first year and gradually drop to 15 percent.

The duties are lower than the 35 percent rate the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended in October after finding that imported panels were harming American manufacturers. The idea behind the tariffs is to raise the costs of cheap imports, particularly from Asia, and level the playing field for those who manufacture the parts domestically.

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 backseat in 2017 while the White House focused on tax reform, but it’s now coming back into the fore: The solar dispute is among several potential trade decisions that also involve washing machines, consumer electronics and steel.

“It’s the first opportunity the president has had to impose tariffs or any sort of trade restriction,” Clark Packard, a trade policy expert at the R Street Institute in Washington, said ahead of the decision. “He’s kind of pining for an opportunity.”

Trump’s solar decision comes almost nine months after Suniva Inc., a bankrupt U.S. module manufacturer with a Chinese majority owner, sought import duties on solar cells and panels. It asserted that it had suffered “ serious injury” from a flood of cheap panels produced in Asia. A month later, the U.S. unit of German manufacturer SolarWorld AG signed on as a co-petitioner, adding heft to Suniva’s cause.

An attorney for Solarworld didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Suniva had sought import duties of 32 cents a watt for solar panels produced outside the U.S. and a floor price of 74 cents a watt.

While Trump has broad authority on the size, scope and duration of duties, the dispute may shift to a different venue. China and neighbors including South Korea may opt to challenge the decision at the World Trade Organization — which has rebuffed prior U.S.-imposed tariffs that appeared before it.

Lewis Leibowitz, a Washington-based trade lawyer, expects the matter will wind up with the WTO. “Nothing is very likely to stop the relief in its tracks,” he said before the decision. “It’s going to take a while.”

The solar industry may also attempt a long-shot appeal to Congress.

“Trump wants to show he’s tough on trade, so whatever duties or quotas he imposes will stick, whatever individual senators or congressmen might say,” Gary Hufbauer, a Washington-based senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said by email before the decision.

http://time.com/5113472/donald-trump-solar-panel-tariff/


Saving coal? This move makes very little sense to me.

To be fair, here is why Trump did this:

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices...roves-relief-us

President Trump Approves Relief for U.S. Washing Machine and Solar Cell Manufacturers

Washington, DC – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced today that President Trump has approved recommendations to impose safeguard tariffs on imported large residential washing machines and imported solar cells and modules.

USTR made the recommendations to the President based on consultations with the interagency Trade Policy Committee (TPC) in response to findings by the independent, bipartisan U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that increased foreign imports of washers and solar cells and modules are a substantial cause of serious injury to domestic manufacturers.

“These cases were filed by American businesses and thoroughly litigated at the International Trade Commission over a period of several months,” said Ambassador Lighthizer. “The ITC found that U.S. producers had been seriously injured by imports and made several recommendations to the President. Upon receiving these recommendations, my staff and I conducted an exhaustive process which included opportunities to brief in person and through public comments, public hearings, and meetings with senior representatives. Based on this information, the Trade Policy Committee developed recommendations, which the President has accepted. The President’s action makes clear again that the Trump Administration will always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses in this regard.”

For imports of large residential washers, the President approved applying a safeguard tariff-rate quota for three years with the following terms:





Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

First 1.2 million units of imported finished washers

20%

18%

16%

All subsequent imports of finished washers

50%

45%

40%

Tariff on covered parts

50%

45%

40%

Covered parts excluded from tariff

50,000 units

70,000 units

90,000 units



Injury to U.S. washing machine manufacturers stems from a sharp increase in imports that began in 2012. The ITC found that imports of large residential washers increased “steadily” from 2012 to 2016, and that domestic producers’ financial performance “declined precipitously.”

For imports of solar cells and modules, the President approved applying safeguard tariffs for the next four years with the following terms:





Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Safeguard Tariff on Modules and Cells

30%

25%

20%

15%

Cells Exempted from Tariff

2.5 gigawatts

2.5 gigawatts

2.5 gigawatts

2.5 gigawatts



The relief will include a tariff of 30 percent in the first year, 25 percent in the second year, 20 percent in the third year, and 15 percent in the fourth year. Additionally, the first 2.5 gigawatts of imported solar cells will be exempt from the safeguard tariff in each of those four years.

The U.S. Trade Representative will engage in discussions among interested parties that could lead to positive resolution of the separate antidumping and countervailing duty measures currently imposed on Chinese solar products and U.S. polysilicon. The goal of those discussions must be fair and sustainable trade throughout the whole solar energy value chain, which would benefit U.S. producers, workers, and consumers.

Following successful trade cases filed by the domestic industry, which levied 40 percent tariffs on Chinese solar imports, China moved production elsewhere and evaded U.S. relief, while maintaining capacity. Today, China dominates the global supply chain and, by its own admission, is looking to increase its capacity to account for 70 percent of total planned global capacity expansions announced in the first half of 2017.

The ITC instituted the cases for Solar and Washers on May 17, 2017, and June 5, 2017 respectively. The ITC then conducted a bipartisan, independent review of the two cases, which included public hearings, before developing various recommendations and reports.

Upon receipt of the ITC’s reports, the Trade Policy Staff Committee, led by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, conducted a thorough interagency process which provided for a public hearing and public comment periods. Ambassador Lighthizer further sought the views of participants in the washer industry and solar producers, importers, and installers before developing the TPC’s recommendation for the President.

Click here to view a fact sheet on the 201 cases.

https://qz.com/1186661/trumps-america-first-policy-on-solar-panels-will-likely-benefit-china/


In 2012, his predecessor Barack Obama also levied tariffs on Chinese solar panels. His worry was that Chinese government was subsidizing its solar panels, dumping them in the US, and thus slowly choking American manufacturing.

Policy experts warned Obama that the tariffs were too little and too late. China’s unprecedented growth had led to an increase in wages, and companies were already looking to move manufacturing outside the country. Obama’s tariffs merely accelerated Chinese solar-panel makers’ moves to other Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Vietnam—from where they continued to export cheap solar panels to the US. In the end, China further entrenched itself as the world leader in making solar panels.

Obama’s move did not lead to resurgence of American manufacturing or innovation. Though Trump corrected Obama’s mistake and levied tariffs on all solar-panel imports, his tariffs will likely produce similar results.

Trump’s move helps US solar-panel manufacturers, such as FirstSolar, Tesla, Suniva, and SolarWorld. But manufacturing only makes up about 14% of jobs in the US solar industry, and it is increasingly becoming more automated.

Meanwhile, foreign panel makers say that Trump’s tariffs are better than expected. The companies were already planning for even higher tariffs by hoarding panels, and thus won’t see an effect immediately. Even if we factor in the full effect, ClearView Energy Partners estimates that the cost increase to consumers wouldn’t be too bad: about 4% for residential rooftop and about 10% for utility-scale solar farms.

The companies that will benefit from Trump’s tariffs are mostly not American, although they manufacture in the US. Suniva is majority-owned by a Chinese investor. SolarWorld is the US arm of a German company. Better still, three Chinese companies—JinkoSolar, JA Solar, and Longi Green Energy Technologies—were already planning to build factories in the US, which will allow them to remain in the US market.

So Chinese owners will benefit most, even if some jobs are added. In effect, Trump’s move will likely do little to decrease China’s huge advantage in solar-panel manufacturing, and might even increase it.

Trump’s stance could also open up options for China and its Asian neighbors to retaliate. They could complain to the World Trade Organization, which has in the past rebuffed US import tariffs. And, anticipating a trade war after Trump’s election in 2016, a Chinese newspaper suggested that China could take a tit-for-tat approach:

Here's something Republicans used to understand: Tariffs are taxes on families," said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. "Moms and dads shopping on a budget for a new washing machine will pay for this — not big companies. You don't fix eight years of bad energy policy with bad trade policy."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...lls/1058293001/

here's something dems never understood, now that business are investing and growing IN AMERICA because of our friendly tax plan, we wont need to rely on imported goods as heavily as we do now. We will actually once again have companies making goods in the good ole USA. What a thought!

J\C
All of a sudden the libs here are worried about ENERGY and American JOBS but not a peep from the DOJ the dems in congress when there boy just gave the shyster company Solyindra 550 million that went bankrupt in 6 months

And Trump and Pence gave Carrier a huge tax break to keep jobs in Indiana that are already gone lining Carriers pockets.

Keep that weak crap outta here.

Now if the LG's and Samsungs of the world want to sell appliances in the US, they better build more plants in the US.

Genius move by Trump.

So you are for for foreign jobs and labor.....ok



I like my taxes less and pay my tax by keeping American workers at work.


Either way it is probably going to balance. I just choose to pay it by paying more for a product I need, made here.

But it didn't accomplish any of that Peen. The jobs still left. If you can't make a deal to punish the people you made deal with to keep those jobs here, it's a hand out and not a deal.

WHAT....Carrier got A 7 million dollar tax break that they have to pay back .
Obama gave SOLYNDRA almost 600 million that they kept after 6 months and no payback
SO MAYBE YOUR THE ONE THAT SHOULD KEEP YOUR WEAK CRAP OUTTA HEAR
HYPOCRIT
And fyi I'm thru with you on this .....got it?

Well of course you're though. Trump just gave well over half a trillion dollars to big business with zero guarantees and you're still whining about Obama. lmao

Can you detail that? Expound on that?

I didn't think it actually needed to be expounded on but okay. He just gave big business a tax cut totaling over half a trillion dollars. He claims all of the wonderful things it will do. Yet there's no guarantees that it will.

So it's really no different than lining their pockets with tax incentives some other way. You either give them tax breaks or you don't.

Picking and choosing to blast one president of lining the pockets of business without looking at both sides is what a lot of people wish to do, but that wouldn't be accurate.

Ah. So, he didn't give businesses half a trillion.

He allowed the aggregate to KEEP some portion of that half trillion. Got it.

Hey, just a heads up here: You do know that the money wasn't the gov't's to begin with, right?

The way these things are calculated, it is assumed that the companies would have paid that half trillion to the government and not found other ways to shelter it. They do the same thing when they project future revenue from increased taxes...they assume that the full tax will be paid using current income figures.

Then you must apply that evenly to every company and corporation who receives a tax abatement.

You can't sit there and say Obama gave money to companies on one hand then say Trump didn't.

In case you missed it, that was the point.

I believe I have.

I believe I can.

See, you made the implication - actually, you STATED Trump

I think you now see that Trump didn't give anyone anything. The money wasn't in the form of a gov't. loan. The money wasn't the gov't.s to begin with. The tax plan is simply allowing businesses to keep more of what they make.

Now, Obama on the other hand, literally guaranteed Solyndra, for one example, a $535 million loan guarantee. As in, Solyndra could borrow that money, and the gov't. guaranteed it. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama-administration-solyndra/story?id=13640783


There IS a difference.

I think perhaps you missed it.








See, you can't "give" someone something they already have.

"Giving" someone entails giving - as in, giving them something they don't have.

Here's what started the entire thing arch and why Trumps name came into it.



Try to actually keep up instead of just jumping in the middle of it to start a fight.

Not starting a fight, just stating facts.

It started with this quote from you:

You stated Trump "gave over half a trillion to big business".

He didn't.

Carrier - they were planning on shipping some 1100 jobs to Mexico. With a $7 million dollar tax cut, they kept some 700 jobs here in the states.

Solyndra got a $535 million dollar loan guarantee, and was out of business at the tax payers expense around 6 months later.

Now, I won't be as petty as you and ask you to 'keep up'. I'll just use your quotes.

And ignore the posts prior to that which would actually keep things in context. About what I expected.

Nope, I'm not ignoring them.

See, from everything I have been able to read, Carrier was allowed a $7 million tax break, PROVIDED they keep X number of jobs in Indiana.

Now, Carrier was planning on moving MOST of the jobs to Mexico prior to the $7 million tax break - which was over 10 years mind you.

Really, unless my math is off, that's $700,000 a year in tax breaks. NOT $700,000 per year in gov't. funding.

So, Indiana, and the feds, had a choice: Do nothing, and watch all the jobs leave, OR, do something and keep somewhere around 700 jobs.

Now, every corporate tax break I've seen or been a part of - like in this instance - that is dependent on keeping or hiring a certain number of jobs, is totally wiped away if said company doesn't meet their end of the bargain.


Again, you stated Trump "gave away over half a trillion dollars to big business", and that is a flat out lie.

You can twist and turn the argument all you want, you still come out looking poorly.