RGR Marketing Notes That Trump’s Solar Panel Import Tariffs Have the Solar Industry Outraged
Though solar power industry leaders in the U.S. don’t want them, and in spite of the fact that the cost of high-efficiency solar panels fell by nearly 40% in 2017, President Trump announced a 30% tariff on foreign-made solar panels earlier this year and the industry is up in arms.
EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. : RGR Marketing, a long-standing, lead generation strategic partner to the nation’s many solar power installers, is proud to announce their steadfast commitment to supporting the U.S. solar industry in its call to repeal solar panel tariffs enacted by the Trump administration earlier this year. In February, President Trump announced that as many as 32 struggling U.S. solar panel manufacturing plants were coming back online thanks to the tariffs, which were widely opposed by the U.S. solar power industry.
As reported in the Washington Examiner, the Solar Industries Association (a solar power trade group) argues that the companies that were struggling prior to imposing the tariffs were failing due to mismanagement or technology problems, and few of them were manufacturing solar panels or cells in the first place. The solar tariffs were lobbied by a majority Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturer and a German-owned company that was facing bankruptcy.
“We stand behind American manufacturers of solar panels and solar cells,” says Matt Schaub, RGR Marketing Co-founder and President, “but we agree with the Solar Industries Association that there are better ways of stimulating the U.S. solar manufacturing industry.”
In related news, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration earlier this year, the cost of high efficiency monocrystalline solar panels has fallen by 37.5%. “There are many factors coming together to drive this reduction in costs, but the end result will only benefit American installers and their customers,” says RGR Marketing Co-founder and Vice President Silas Ellman.
With high-efficiency monocrystalline solar panels coming down in price to meet demand by American consumers, many industry professionals believe that now is the worst possible time for the federal government to be imposing ill-conceived tariffs.
As solar continues to be a major component of our fight against climate change and the pollution generated by conventional production of electricity-using fossil fuels, delivering the highest efficiency product at the lowest possible cost to the American consumer should be the priority of not only the U.S. solar industry, but the U.S. government as well.
About RGR Marketing
RGR Marketing isn’t your typical lead-generation company; founded in 2004 by industry veterans Matt Schaub and Silas Ellman, RGR sources great leads and serves as strategic partner to our clients. We have a proven track record of successfully anticipating and adapting to market changes, and maintaining significant growth over more than a decade in the business. Our goal is to change the solar lead generation industry through innovation and integrity.
