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The Center for American Progress reports
President Trump's decision to impose tariffs on imported solar materials is already taking its toll on U.S. jobs.
After putting plans on hold last month to expand its factories in the United States, SunPower Corp., one of the nation's largest solar panel manufacturers, now intends to lay off about 10 percent of its U.S. workforce.
SunPower attributed the job cuts to the 30-percent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on imported solar cells and panels, The Hill reported [February 28]. Company chief executive Tom Werner estimates the new tariffs will cause the company to lose $50 million in 2018 and as much as $100 million in 2019.
Werner's comments built on information that SunPower released in a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week. The news also came only two weeks after SunPower reported a 35-percent decrease in revenue in 2017 compared to 2016.
Werner told The Hill that it has already begun laying off between 150 and 250 workers from its U.S. operations. Based in San Jose, California, SunPower imports most of its components from manufacturing facilities in the Philippines and Mexico.
Trump slapped the 30-percent tariff on imported solar cells and panels in January after the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled last year that China had harmed the domestic solar manufacturing industry with policies aimed at taking over the global market. The industry gets about 80 percent of its solar panel products from imports.
The Solar Energy Industries Association, the primary lobby group for the U.S. industry, estimates Trump's decision may cost the fast-growing industry about 23,000 jobs in 2018 and cause billions of dollars in solar investments to be canceled or delayed. The industry currently employees more than 260,000 people, primarily in the installation business.
[...] In January, SunPower said it was putting a $20 million U.S. factory expansion and hundreds of new jobs on hold until its solar panels receive an exemption from Trump's solar tariffs.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 01 2018, @07:20PM (16 children)
So all those jobs should be going into the coal industry he's saving, right?
Coal plants now shutting down faster under Trump than Obama. [thinkprogress.org]
Guess not...
(Score: 5, Informative) by insanumingenium on Thursday March 01 2018, @07:24PM (15 children)
Worse! This was supposed to build domestic solar manufacturers, so glad that worked out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @07:45PM (9 children)
Trump! Trump! Trump!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @07:59PM (3 children)
Drill baby drill!!!!
All your base are belong to Glorious Smartest Trump!!
Go big oil. Down with solar!! Flat earth forever!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @08:27PM (2 children)
Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday March 01 2018, @10:50PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @06:09AM
eeeeewwwwwwwww.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday March 01 2018, @08:45PM (4 children)
He's like a stable genius.
Reminder: March is National Procrastination Week.
(Yes, really.)
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @12:15AM (2 children)
A true procrastinator wouldn't have alerted us until the end of March.
(Score: 2) by BK on Friday March 02 2018, @02:34AM (1 child)
You mean mid April.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Friday March 02 2018, @03:10AM
Next decade.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 1) by webnut77 on Friday March 02 2018, @05:11PM
Yes, I'm going to celebrate it next month.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by edIII on Thursday March 01 2018, @08:48PM (4 children)
It could have. This is one of the few things I agree with Trump on. There is ONE reason why they are laying off jobs:
Executives can never make less, they must make more, and in the worst case scenario, have a impressive Golden Parachute.
This about the greed of executives, since bringing the manufacturing back home means dealing with UNION factory workers. Instead of increasing domestic production of solar panels, they act like fucking 5-year olds and start laying off people till their profitable enough again AND the executive class still gets fed like pigs.
If there was any place I would love to see Trump double down on, it's tariffs like this that will force manufacturing back to the US. He should threaten those fuckers with subsidies towards employee owned solar companies.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @09:10PM
Trump is not there for the little guy, he is there for the coal/oil industry. These tariffs were a way to hurt the solar industry while pretending he was putting America First! Don't buy into the kool-aid, he is head kleptocrat right now and doesn't give two shits about US citizens without at least a cool hundred mil hiding in some bank account.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by insanumingenium on Thursday March 01 2018, @09:17PM (1 child)
If you think that there is exactly one reason for a large scale business decision you are flat wrong.
This tariff has a very short time scale, it only lasts 4 years, and falls off 5% every year. It was never going to produce domestic manufacturing, there would need to be a monstrous capital outlay to try and build a plant ASAP, then there wouldn't be a return in it before the cheaper foreign products were again available first at a drastically reduced tariff, then without tariff. What this tariff could do is significantly reduce solar demand for the next few years, good luck making a business case to push for more domestic manufacturing after that. Trump is either betting against us or is a stone blind fool.
(Score: 1) by bussdriver on Friday March 02 2018, @08:34PM
This looks more like a shakedown for the industry. The impact is short term but real - more like a mob guy breaking your leg to send a message. The industry is growing and needs to start paying bribes like everybody else in the energy sector...
Competition wants to do solar harm and delay it but this will not delay things for that long. It's not enough as the parent posted to bother investing in the USA unless you want to take the risk and this is enough to jump start beginning something.... which likely will go under if things don't come out better than they have been after the short time period is over.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 01 2018, @10:52PM
Ah, yes, "The American Dream" condensed into 5 letters. We wouldn't want anything to stand in the way of that, would we?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves