The U.S. opened its first trade "ticket" this year, one of which was to declare tariffs up to 30% on imported solar panels, which the Trump administration said will protect U.S. domestic solar panel makers from international Competitors, but the US solar installation protest this policy will harm its interests, while the United States trade experts pointed out that in the long run, the Trump administration will allow the United States to benefit from the green energy industry.
US solar vendors and installers oppose the government imposing tariffs on imported solar panels mainly because it puts higher prices on consumers, slowing sales and causing lost jobs related to sales and installation.
According to the "Wall Street Journal" reported on the 23rd, some solar industry leaders complained that the Trump administration's tariffs will make the United States solar installation industry to slow down the development and employment creation, and solar energy installation industry to provide more jobs than solar energy Panel manufacturing, the latter in the United States is only a very small industry.
The Solar Energy Industries Association predicts that this trade protectionism will lead the United States to lose 23,000 jobs this year, causing billions of dollars in investment to be delayed or canceled.
According to GTM Research, a renewable energy industry market analysis firm, domestic production of solar panels in the United States accounts for about 10% of installed solar installations in 2017. In 2016, the number of solar panels purchased in the United States was Nearly 90% of the imported products. Bloomberg data shows that more than 80% of the solar energy installations in the United States rely on imported solar panels, of which 36% are from Malaysia, 21% from South Korea, 9% from Thailand, 9% from Vietnam and 8% From China, the remaining 17% from other regions.
However, the U.S. trade deficit expert Alan Tonelson wrote on the 23rd that collecting tariffs on imported solar panels is a 'win-win' for the United States. This will not only help the United States harvest from the green energy revolution The biggest economic benefit will also prevent distortions of the U.S. free market by foreign imports subsidized by the local government.
Tonerson said companies that install solar systems for homes and businesses strongly oppose tariffs, but these companies call themselves the key sectors in the 'US solar industry' and describe the US solar industry as a tariff issue Differentiation, misleading.
No one would confuse satellite TV installers with 'America's communications industry,' and the term 'communications industry' was among the world's leading information technology, and nobody would confuse a taxi company with the 'American car industry', he said. , The term 'automotive industry' should belong to capital-intensive companies that make cars and auto parts, and similarly, the core component of the US 'solar industry' is a highly innovative US producer of green energy products, while Trump's Tariff policy is precisely to protect the most crucial sector of the US solar industry - green energy production companies, tariff policy can strengthen these companies compete with the use of government subsidies, and keep low prices of offshore products manufacturers.
"Solar installers naturally do not care where their solar panels come from, and the less they invest, the more they earn, the less they charge solar consumers," he said.
Tonerson said cheaper imported solar panels helped to accelerate the use of solar energy as an alternative energy source, but allowing long-term national costs to the United States by allowing foreign products to penetrate the entire green energy production sector in the United States is much greater.
He believes first priority should be given to US green energy production such as solar panels because, just like ordinary industrial enterprises, solar industry manufacturers have far exceeded productivity growth in service sectors such as solar energy installations.
Second, solar manufacturers looking for tariff protection, like most manufacturing in the United States, are excellent innovators. For example, local manufacturer Solar World owns more than 50 patents and Suniva owns more than 150 patents.
In addition, allowing foreign producers to sell large quantities of solar panels to the United States frees the wrong signal from other producers subsidized by foreign governments - the U.S. government is open to foreign government subsidies.
