China’s cutback on solar installations erases gains from Donald Trump’s tariffs
First Solar has lost about a quarter of its market value in the past week; SunPower Corp is slumping too, along with big Chinese solar companies that trade in the US and Asia
US President Donald Trump said imposing solar tariffs would help US companies. But China’s surprise decision to slash installations is negating those gains, and shares of American manufacturers are plunging.
First Solar Inc. has lost about a quarter of its market value in the past week. SunPower Corp. is slumping too, as are the big Chinese solar companies that trade in the US and Asia.
China’s cutback “has shaken global markets,” Joseph Osha, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC, said in a research note Wednesday. “Pricing pressure is likely to accelerate outside of the US, and even inside the US pricing may decline as Chinese suppliers look to compensate for a sharp decline in expected demand in their home market.”
The industrywide slide shows that trade barriers designed to protect specific companies or industries can be overpowered by the global forces that drive the markets.
Slower demand in China will exacerbate a panel glut and drag down prices. That will mirror the conditions that prompted some struggling US panel makers to seek tariffs last year.