Trumps 30% tariff on imported solar panels

[CapnAwesome]

So are you in favor of the tarriff then? It would seem to balance that out by taxing the chinese. I guess I don't know enough about the solar industry to really have an opinion on it.

I just think it's funny to watch people who would normally be in favor of higher tariffs be all free trade because it's Trump. If Chinese solar really is dirty, this would seem a good thing.

No, I don't think a tariff is the way to go, personally.  I did a big write up on the boards awhile back @ how solar came to be in the position it's in.  Long story short, the end of cheap waste and the coopting of industry watchdogs combined with the wholesale gutting of relevant regs under the guise of "pro-business" policy.  A tariff would drive manufacturing further into the toilet for the same reason it dove into the toilet in the first place.  Offshore manufacturers would race to the bottom again.

I'm only conflicted in that our bumbling admin has at least identified a legitimate problem for a change..even if the proposed solution is as amatuerish as we've come to expect.  So I guess they get a participation award on this one?  How you came to be under the impression that I'm not predictably in the tank for free trade, otoh, is a mystery, lol. I think you might have swallowed a little too much of the rights leftist koolaid, of late. You're seeing boogeymen.

I don't know everything about your personal politics, but most people on the left tend towards being against sending jobs overseasa, the evils of outsourcing etc. I'm not basing this on what right wing people say, not drinking any koolaid, that's for sure. I mostly base it off of what left wing people on atheist forums have said over the years, plus just paying attention to the world. Bernie Sanders is in favor of many similar protectionist policies. He probably wouldn't do it on solar panels, just because it sounds bad, but it's basically the same sort of policies.

It's been amazing to see the sudden switch in many left wing people on trade issues with Trump, because Trump is left of most people on trade and most people in the U.S. are on such a left right diconemy of political thinking and so afraid of agreeing with anyrhing Trump says that I've never in my life seen so much defense of free trade from left wing people, either in op-eds or just on here.

You have a more subtle and informed view of the whole thing, but also I wasn't necessarily talking about you specifically. It's not like saying "left wing people " implies 100% of them. I mean, duh. Obviously there is some diversity of thought on the left, and on trade. But I bet if Bernie Sanders had done the same thing they'd be "Bernie saved American jobs and helps clean up solar."