Trump’s First Major Trade Fight With China Could Be Over Solar Panels<br />The United States has already imposed tariffs on solar panels from China over the past<br />five years, prompting Chinese manufacturers to build vast factories in Southeast Asia.<br />The solar panel industry could be Mr. Trump’s first test of whether his harsh rhetoric toward China will result in significant trade measures —<br />and whether those moves would help restore American businesses.<br />That has blurred the lines over the pending solar trade fight even within the United States, where<br />American manufacturers are squaring off against American installers and users of the panels.<br />Administration officials have so far allowed two solar-panel companies with factories<br />in the United States to ask Washington for tariffs on all solar panel imports.<br />The solar panel dispute comes at a time when senior administration officials have been signaling their<br />intention to take a much tougher trade stance toward China, where most solar panels are made.<br />“Everybody needs the kinds of cheaper panels, not only in China,<br />but also the world,” said Li Junfeng, a senior Chinese economic adviser and the architect of many of China’s renewable energy policies, at ’s Climate Tech conference on Thursday in San Francisco.<br />Major manufacturers in the United States and China, as well as a slew of other businesses<br />that buy and use solar panels, are readying for a clash that could begin as soon as January.
