Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    Facebook is starting to feed its Meta AI with private, unpublished photos

    June 27, 2025

    How vulnerable is critical infrastructure to cyberattack in the US?

    June 27, 2025

    I’m an Outdoor Writer. I’m Shopping 28 Deals From REI’s July 4 Sale

    June 27, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » Analysts Say Trump Trade Wars Would Harm the Entire US Energy Sector, From Oil to Solar
    Science

    Analysts Say Trump Trade Wars Would Harm the Entire US Energy Sector, From Oil to Solar

    News RoomBy News RoomJune 5, 20253 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    Why is this conflict happening? The short version is that Trump and his advisers believe that tariffs will help the US economy by encouraging construction of factories here, reducing trade deficits and punishing barriers to entry of US products in other countries.

    “We will supercharge our domestic industrial base,” Trump said in an April 2 speech announcing tariffs on nearly every US trading partner. “We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers and ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers.”

    A tariff is a tax charged by a government on imports. As the US government has increased its tariffs, other countries have retaliated with their own increases.

    Adding to the chaos is that the policies frequently change, with the president often announcing shifts on social media, as happened in recent days on tariffs on the European Union.

    I spoke with Chris Seiple, Wood Mackenzie’s vice chairman for power and renewables, to drill down on the parts of the report that deal with renewables. Here is that conversation, edited for length and clarity:

    Dan Gearino: For renewable energy industries, is the big problem that tariffs make everything more expensive, or is there more to it than that?

    Chris Seiple: Sure, things getting more expensive is a big part of it. I think the second challenge, and this is kind of unique to the power business, is that there’s a heavy hand of regulation. And so there’s a lot of US utilities that have to go through pretty extensive regulatory processes to get approval for what they want to build. Being in a world where there’s so much tariff uncertainty, they don’t know what it’s going to cost to build what they want to build. It’s particularly challenging for this industry to be able to navigate that, and it impacts renewables more than it impacts, say, other sectors like gas or coal, because we rely upon imports of equipment to such a bigger degree, especially for battery storage, where we’re essentially entirely dependent at this point on imports from China.

    With battery storage, there has been an attempt to increase manufacturing capacity in the US. How would you characterize where that stands?

    Very early days. A lot of battery manufacturing that’s going on within the US is meant to supply batteries to EV vehicles, not stationary utility-scale storage projects. And so the amount of manufacturing capacity in comparison to what the demand is for that equipment results in us importing well more than 90 percent of what we need.

    Chris Seiple is Wood Mackenzie’s vice chairman for power and renewables.

    Photograph: Wood Mackenzie

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleWacom’s new Cintiq tablets have a skinnier look and better displays
    Next Article Narwal’s Freo X Ultra, one of our favorite robovacs, is 60 percent off

    Related Posts

    Scientists Are Sending Cannabis Seeds to Space

    June 27, 2025

    How the Universe and Its Mirrored Version Are Different

    June 25, 2025

    Scientists Discover the Key to Axolotls’ Ability to Regenerate Limbs

    June 25, 2025

    ‘Major Anomaly’ Behind Latest SpaceX Starship Explosion

    June 23, 2025

    The Viral Storm Streamers Predicting Deadly Tornadoes—Sometimes Faster Than the Government

    June 23, 2025

    The Mysterious Inner Workings of Io, Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon

    June 21, 2025
    Our Picks

    How vulnerable is critical infrastructure to cyberattack in the US?

    June 27, 2025

    I’m an Outdoor Writer. I’m Shopping 28 Deals From REI’s July 4 Sale

    June 27, 2025

    The best deals on 4K TVs

    June 27, 2025

    Disney Just Threw a Punch in a Major AI Fight

    June 27, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    News

    Google’s carbon emissions just went up again

    By News RoomJune 27, 2025

    Google’s carbon emissions jumped yet again as the company continues to push ahead in AI.…

    Eufy’s Omni C20 mopping robovac is $300 off for a limited time

    June 27, 2025

    Meta Wins Blockbuster AI Copyright Case—but There’s a Catch

    June 27, 2025

    What Meta and Anthropic really won in court

    June 27, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.