Did Trump Help Boost European Renewables?

[Stormysaga + 62]

The European Commission has announced it will end punitive tariffs on solar panels imported from China, five years after they were put into place. In 2013 the EU accused China of dumping their solar panels into the European market, selling them at artificially low prices in order ro shut down European competition. 
The European tariffs will end just as identical tariffs in the US are beginning. Early this year, U.S. President Donald Trump set a roughly equivalent import duty on Chinese solar modules and cells, to counteract alleged dumping. Industry observers think that the US decision to put tariffs in place worked as an argument for ending European tariffs during talks and that now Europe will be a far more attractive market for Chinese solar that the US. 

[BlackTortoise + 103]

The tax the EU imposed a few years ago was equally bad. Was also an effort to save a few European manufacturers, but they didn't make it anyway, instead it hampered investment into solar panels. With cheaper panels, the point where it pays off for an investor is reached earlier and that might make the difference between installing a lot of panels or not doing anything. Such taxes in general hamper economic development, they just try to save a few companies.  And when you lift the tax burden eventually, the companies here that were dependent on it might fall off the cliff for good then.  

[Adam Varga + 123]

German Solarworld was going into bankruptcy even with the tariffs a year ago and now with this they're just done. China won and crushed German consumer solar panel production.   

[Sofia + 35]

  

People in the EU now get cheaper solar panels and more jobs installing and maintaining them. They couldn't compete with the tariffs. This is easily an overall win for the EU.    

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

Trump added tariffs to "protect" the industry just as the EU allowed theirs to expire in order to foster the industry. EU will get cheaper Chinese modules because of an oversupply caused by Trump's tariffs.     

[Adam Varga + 123]

There is oversupply because China abruptly cut subsidies a couple of months ago. The US tariffs made an extremely small dent compared to that. Module prices are only a fraction of commercial PV in the US anyway. 

[BlackTortoise + 103]

Not sure how that's beneficial long-term to the EU economy,  7 out of 10 solar modules come from China. Just killing the industry there.