Solar: Unlikely allies try to sway White House before trade decision
That’s where right-of-center groups backing SEIA — like Heritage, ALEC, the Cato Institute, the Niskanen Center and the R Street Institute — come into play. They’re worried about the precedent of a 201 tariff more than its effect on any particular industry. That’s because the tariff applies to all imports of a good, rather than more circumscribed tariffs against one company or country (though the groups generally aren’t in favor of those policies, either).
Conservatives pointed to the George W. Bush administration’s decision to slap a 201 tariff on imported steel as the type of situation they want to avoid. Critics said the steel tariff, which was pitched as a lifeline to the ailing domestic industry, had negative knock-on effects as prices rose with the tariff shield in place. The 2002 tariff pushed 200,000 people out of jobs as manufacturing operations, even outside the steel industry, moved overseas, according to the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition.
