The solar trade war between China and the U.S. is heating up, presenting Trump with a sticky trade issue his predecessor wasn't able to solve.
The U.S. may impose emergency tariffs on imported solar cells, Reuters reports, according to a filing the U.S. published Monday at the World Trade Organization.
Get smart: This is just the latest salvo in a years-long battle between top solar manufacturing countries around the world, especially China, India, and the U.S. It's a tricky balance, according to Michael Froman, former U.S. trade representative for Obama.
Froman said on Columbia University's Center on Global Energy regular podcast that cheaper solar panel imports help boost the amount of clean energy in the U.S. and create jobs installing those panels, which are both good objectives.
"On the other hand, you'd also like to see a U.S. domestic manufacturing capability in solar panels, and we are capable of producing world-class solar panels."
What's next: The U.S. filing comes on the heels of the bankrupt U.S. solar manufacturer Suniva petitioning the U.S. International Trade Commission for global safeguards. The ITC will decide by Sept. 22 whether the U.S. solar manufacturing industry has suffered "serious injury," and if that's the case, it will submit a report to Trump by Nov. 13, Reuters reported.
Trump's moment? "We worked very hard over three years to try to resolve it, but the stars were not aligned," Froman said on the podcast. Your turn, Trump!