The Trump Administration has Avoided Putting Tariffs on the Fossil Fuel Industry

On Monday, the Trump Administration has opted to place tariffs on imports for solar panels and washing machines. This new tax would be a 30 percent increase on costs for solar panels coming into the United States.

This move was extremely selective and damaging to the renewable energy sector.

If he wanted to place tariffs on fossil fuels, as well as renewable energy, I wouldn’t have as much as a problem with the administration’s decision. That being said, it appears he is playing favoritism to the oil and gas companies.

Furthermore, if the Trump Administration were to create regulations placing higher corporate taxes on companies that outsource their jobs, I would be in complete support of that decision. Instead of bringing high wage jobs back to America, the Trump Administration could possibly be eliminating over 23,000 jobs from the solar power industry with this decision.

Bloomberg has reported that 80 percent of the solar panels used in the United States are imported from other countries.

These new tariffs will fluctuate over time.

The BBC reported:

‘The first 1.2 million imported large residential washing machines in the first year will have a 20% tariff imposed on them, while there will be a 50% tariff on machines above that number.

By the third year, these will drop to 16% and 40% respectively.

Meanwhile, the tariff increase on imported solar cells and modules in the first year will be 30%, falling to 15% by the fourth year, although 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of imported cells – enough for about 11.5 million panels – will be allowed in tariff-free annually.’

Watch over two news reports covering this topic featuring Fox News and Engadget on YouTube.