Donald Trump's trade crackdown; US slaps tariffs on solar equipment

While the obvious winners are American manufacturers that will likely become more competitive, foreign companies that have built a local presence could also gain an edge. On the losing side, overseas appliance producers will hurt, but tariff levels for some solar panel makers based outside the US may not be as steep as they had expected. 
 

Some of the winners are Whirlpool, Qingdao Haier, First Solar, SolarWorld Americas and Suniva, U.S.-China trade relations, Longi Green Energy Technology, and India. And some of the losers from this move are American workers, LG, Electrolux AB, Midea Group, JinkoSolar Holding.

The biggest Chinese-owned producers including Trina Solar, Canadian Solar and JA Solar Holdings will all feel the effect of the tariffs in the short term at least, according to Robin Xiao, an analyst at CMB International Securities. Asian countries accounted for more than 90 percent of the $3.7 billion in US solar module imports in the first 10 months of last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Every nation will be impacted by the new levies, though they’re in-line with expectations, said Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary-general of China Photovoltaic Industry Association. 

While the obvious winners are American manufacturers that will likely become more competitive, foreign companies that have built a local presence could also gain an edge. On the losing side, overseas appliance producers will hurt, but tariff levels for some solar panel makers based outside US may not be as steep as they expected.