# Under Trump’s Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/02/under-trumps-tariffs-the-us-lost-20000-solar-energy-jobs/
- Published: 2019-02-25T16:14:59-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

### Feb 24, 2019, 6:20 am, James Ellsmoor, Contributor for Forbes.

So 2016 was the best year on record for solar energy jobs market in the United States.
That’s from a [report](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/25/u-s-solar-energy-employs-more-people-than-oil-coal-and-gas-combined-infographic/#73a120462800)
from the U.S. Department of Energy. This is at the time showed that solar energy
was responsible for a much larger share of employment in the [electric power sector](https://greenlivingguy.com/2020/01/energy-efficiency-key-states-compliance-strategy-without-clean-power-plan/)(
43%). That’s more than the whole of the fossil fuel industry combined (22%). With
such robust numbers, it seemed as though solar energy, and renewables more broadly,
were about to revolutionize the energy sector in the United States. Thereby lead
the push towards cleaner [energy and lower carbon emissions](https://greenlivingguy.com/2014/02/algenols-algae-energy-tape-bares-all/).

![U S Solar jobs by year chart of the national solar jobs census 2018solarjobscensus
Org](https://i0.wp.com/greenlivingguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/26F10D36-D906-
4878-9440-4636B5637CB4.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=50&ssl=1 "26F10D36-D906-4878-
9440-4636B5637CB4 - The Green Living Guy")

US Solar Jobs by Year Chart of the [National Solar Jobs Census](https://greenlivingguy.com/2012/11/usa-solar-energy-jobs-increase-national-solar-jobs-census-says-growth-by-more-than-13-percent/)
2018SOLARJOBSCENSUSORG

### **_Trump Tariffs Challenge Growth_**

However, solar energy jobs stagnated. They have dipped for two consecutive years.
All since the Department of Energy’s initial report, with a loss of 10,000 jobs 
in 2017. Then followed by a further 8,000 in 2018. More interestingly, although 
some job losses were foreseen as a result of project finalizations in several states,
we know  Yes folks, [the biggest contributing factor was President Trump’s tariffs on solar panels](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fjamesellsmoor%2F2019%2F02%2F24%2Funder-trumps-tariffs-the-us-lost-20000-solar-energy-jobs%2F&text=The%20biggest%20contributing%20factor%20to%20solar%20job%20losses%20was%20President%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20tariffs%20on%20%23solarPV%20panels%20-%20%40jellsmoor).
The first shot fired in what would become a wide-ranging trade war with China in
2018, the U.S.’ decision to add a 30% [tariff on foreign-produced solar](https://greenlivingguy.com/2023/08/unveiling-the-findings-of-the-solar-tariff-investigation/)
panels had a negative effect on its domestic solar industry, which heavily relies
on cheap imports.

For the Entire Story On [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/24/under-trumps-tariffs-the-us-lost-20000-solar-energy-jobs/)

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 greenlivingguy

 The Green Living Guy, Seth Leitman is an independent power producer, a green living
expert, and Editor of the McGraw-Hill, TAB Green Guru Guides. Seth is also an Author,
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Green Living Guy writes about green living, green lighting, the green guru guides
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