First of all, in a society that values freedom, there are no tariffs. A free citizen is free to purchase whatever legal item he or she wishes from anyone who cares to sell it to them. Both sides agree on the terms of the transaction without government interference. This was the ultimate message of Adam Smith's seminal book from 1776, The Wealth of Nations, free trade, accepted as gospel even today.
According to an MIT Technology Review article: " Trump administration cuts to the Department of Energy and other federal programs could also take away money from demonstration projects that help cleantech companies test and scale up their technologies. And if Congress does eliminate certain subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, it could halt billion-dollar projects that are being planned or perhaps even some that are already under construction."
Perfect logic. Keep spending taxpayer funds that will be used for planned or commenced projects in spite of their lack of viability.
“The biggest challenge for companies that are making hundred-million- or billion-dollar capital investments is dealing with the uncertainty,” Turner says. “Uncertainty is a real deterrent to making big bets.”
Yes, as Ben Franklin is credited with saying, "There's nothing certain but death and taxes." Other wise it wouldn't be a bet at all. The Neo-Whigs that wish to get in on the clean tech gravy train want to do it with taxpayer funding. They want a sure thing, not a good bet.
Former Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that tariffs on Chinese solar panels and other "clean" products are needed if the move to non-hydrocarbon energy is to proceed. Ergo the existential threat to life on earth is economically dependent on making some products more expensive. If an exploring space ship from another galaxy appeared and gave away solar panels for free it would be a disaster, according to the academic economist.
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