With government sometimes it does things which help industry, sometimes it does things which do not help industry. It really depends, prior to going to Davos, President Trump signed a regulation to place tariffs on imported solar panels. At the moment, 99% or thereabouts of solar panels are made in China. The President did this action to try to encourage US based solar manufacturers a better playing field or raise costs of imports allows the non imports to be priced in the same ballpark. The Solar Energy Association thinks it is counterproductive to raise rates on solar energy because they generate electricity which means the utilities do not have to burn fossil fuels.

Other association people do not believe the impact will be great because suppliers anticipated the tariffs and prices rose. The tariff is less severe than what the industry had was expecting which essentially means little changes.

The President has pushed the line America First so the solar industry regulators react to do something but not too extreme because the options just do not exist and even with the higher tariffs no manufacturer is going into business. The regulator maintained the existing 30% renewable energy tax credit, the recently tax bill recently cut corporate taxes and enhanced depreciation of solar investments. In reality the status quo will be maintained.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as an investor you want the status quo to be maintained so your investments continue to earn profit and pay dividends. As a citizen you want reasonable opportunity in the marketplace understanding supply chains change over time. In this case of the solar panels, the government did something but not too much to change existing structures.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.