Trade Protections Didn’t Work for Lamb Meat, Line Pipe or Gluten. Will They Work for US Solar?

In the four decades since Congress passed the 1974 Trade Act, there have been 75 cases in which U.S. industries used the law to argue that imports caused them injury. The list of aggrieved industries is wide-ranging: footwear, CB radios, mushrooms, lamb meat, clothespins and steel. And now, solar. Over the years, the International Trade Commission ruled in favor of petitioners roughly half the time. The sitting president applied penalties 19 times after getting recommendations from trade commissioners. But according to a study from Georgetown Law, which analyzed the impacts of import penalties on lamb meat, line pipe and gluten, “none of the three industries were restored to sustained competitiveness” because of protectionist measures. Last Friday, the ITC determined that U.S. solar manufacturers faced harm from imports. Will the result be any different if penalties are imposed? This week, we discuss the next steps in the solar industry’s latest controversial trade case. It’s getting closer to President Trump’s desk.

Source:GTM