Luckily, China's Glut Helps With Trumps Tariff For US Solar Panel Prices

A transit by China to slash subsidies for domestic solar installations has unleashed a rush of low-cost Chinese-made panels onto the global market, forcing down prices and eroding the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff on solar equipment imports, according to business officials.

Solar panels perch on the roof of SunPower Corporation in Richmond,

That’s good news for U.S. companies that buy and install imported solar panels, including Inovateus Solar and Pine Gate Renewables, which had expected that the protectionist policy would increase their costs and slow their business.

Are The Prices Declining?

The declining prices, however, will hurt panel producers including China’s Jinko Solar [JKSAA.UL] and Korea’s Hanwha Q CELLS, which had proclaimed hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. solar manufacturing investments in the expectation that tariffs would raise their profits.

Trump Ruins Solar Prices

Trump announced a 30-percent levy on all imported solar panels in January, his opening onslaught in an escalating global trade war that he says is aimed at helping U.S. manufacturers and other businesses rebound from years of decline. Critics say the tariffs could backfire by hurting other domestic industries that depend on imports.

Solar Panel Prices In The United States

The possibility of solar tariffs initially sent U.S. panel prices soaring, making domestic production more profitable and drawing a handful of new investments. But the tax on imports cooled the red-hot pace of U.S. solar installations by increasing panel costs.

The Uses Of Solar In The United States

The U.S. solar industry uses more than 250,000 people, with approximately 40 percent of those people in installation and 20 percent in production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Solar Panel Market Changed With China's Moves In The Solar Market

The solar panel market changed in June after China, the world’s top solar installer and a major critic of the Trump tariff, announced a plan to cut the amount of installed solar capacity this year approximately in half by cutting subsidies for such projects. While the move could impair the effectiveness of Trump’s tariffs on panels, China’s National Development and Reform Commission has stated the subsidy cuts were motivated mainly by domestic anxieties about the industry’s rapid growth.

Solar Capacity Surge Paragraph

Surging solar capacity has left China trying to build sufficient transmission infrastructure to link projects to the electrical grid, and the finance ministry has clambered to find billions of yuan in subsidies owed to new projects.

We hope you have learned that prices are lowering, and regardless of the tariff, prices are so low.  So low, you should be today, and here at HahaSmart we can help you get the best price on solar available.

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