The latest actions by the Trump administration – including the recently proposed slashing of the Department of Energy’s clean energy innovation budget by 72 percent, not to mention new tariffs on solar panel imports – call into question America’s commitment to innovation and advanced energy leadership.
The tariffs are likely to raise the cost and slow deployment of solar energy in the U.S., with the aim of bringing back solar manufacturing jobs. These jobs, once a significant component of the U.S. solar sector, were mostly lost years ago lower labor costs abroad, as well as Chinese subsidies. B
