The trade war between China and the United Stateshas reached another milestone with US President Donald Trump implementing a law in which a 30 percent tariff will be placed on imported solar panels.
The president claims the action was taken to protect American jobs. However, the exact opposite may be the case. Both the US solar industry and China are angered by the tariffs, claiming that the move will lead to the loss of US jobs.
An ever-growing problem
Somewhere in the area of 260,000 Americans are currently employed by the solar industry. Nevertheless, only 14% of that number are involved in the manufacturing of solar panels. The vast majority of the industry provides services that revolve around the installationof solar panels.
Think about it this way. In economics, when prices rise demand falls. In this instance, only 14% of the industry, the percentage that employs people who manufacture solar panels, will directly benefit from the tariff increase because it will encourage US solar manufacturers to step up production.
