The US Will Be Left Behind: Trump's Tariffs Will Not Slow Global Transition, Say Experts

Donald Trump's upending of the global economy has raised fears that climate action could emerge as a major casualty of the trade war.

- Jillian Ambrose

In the week that has followed the US president's so-called "liberation day" tariff plan, economic experts have warned the swathe of tariffs could trigger a global recession, with potentially far-reaching consequences for investors - including those behind the green energy projects needed to meet global climate goals.

Fears of a prolonged global recession have also tanked oil and gas prices, making it cheaper to pollute and more difficult to justify investment in clean alternatives such as electric vehicles and low-carbon heating to financially hard-hit households.

But chief among the concerns is Trump's decision to level his most aggressive tariffs against China - the world's largest manufacturer of clean energy technologies - which threatens to throttle green investment in the US, the world's second largest carbon emitter.

The US is expected to lag further behind the rest of the world in developing green technologies by cutting off its access to cheap clean energy tech developed in China. This is a further blow to green energy developers in the US reeling from the Trump administration's vow to roll back the Biden presidency's green incentives.

Leslie Abrahams, a deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies thinktank in Washington, said the tariffs would probably hinder the rollout of clean energy in the US.

The tariffs are expected to drive up the price of developing clean power because the US has been heavily reliant on importing green technologies. "And not just imports of the final goods. Even the manufacturing that we do in the United States relies on imported components," Abrahams said.