President Donald Trump’s tariff on solar imports has resulted in one of China’s largest solar companies planning to open a manufacturing plant in the United States rather than overseas.
As Breitbart News’s financial expert John Carney reported in January, Trump announced steep tariffs to protect American jobs and manufacturing:
A tariff of 30 percent will be levied on imported solar modules and cells in the first year. That will decline to 25 percent in the second year, 20 percent in the third year, and 15 percent in the fourth year.
The Trump administration is also imposing tariffs and a quota on importing washing machines following a trade commission investigation. In the first year, the first 1.2 million washing machines that are imported will face a 20 percent tariff, while all subsequent imports will face a 50 percent tariff.
Now, the Chinese solar company, JinkoSolar is planning to build a manufacturing facility in the U.S., noting that Trump’s tariffs were part of the company’s decision to choose America as the home of its newest plant.
“Concurrently, the Company’s Board of Directors has authorized JinkoSolar to finalize planning for the construction of an advanced solar manufacturing facility in the U.S.,” the statement from the company reads. “JinkoSolar continues to closely monitor treatment of imports of solar cells and modules under the U.S. trade laws.”
Trump’s new economic nationalist tariffs on solar imports were the result of two American solar manufacturing companies, Suniva and SolarWorld USA, filing an anti-dumping suit in which they said Chinese companies were unfairly dumping cheap solar products in the U.S., driving them nearly out of business and prompting mass layoffs of American workers.
As Breitbart News reported, American companies have followed Trump’s lead on his economic nationalism agenda when it comes to trade, with “a wave” of trade lawsuits being filed by U.S. companies against foreign competitors whom they say are taking advantage of U.S. trade policy to unfairly dump cheap, foreign goods in the country.
The Trump administration made history when it announced in November that it would be taking action against China for dumping cheap aluminum sheet metal in the U.S., unfairly hurting American companies.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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