Shares of solar manufacturers First Solar and T1 Energy jumped early Friday after the Trump administration imposed tariffs and price floors on imported solar products.
The changes will make American-built solar products much more price-competitive against solar equipment made in Asia. But they could also raise the price of solar installations for utilities and homeowners.
First Solar rose 9% in early trading. T1 Energy, which owns a factory that makes solar modules in Dallas and is building a plant to make solar cells, was up 13%. In a statement, T1 CEO Dan Barcelo said the move was "a decisive win for advanced American manufacturing and investment in domestic energy supply chains."
The new rules impose a 15% tariffs on imported solar products and create a price floor of 22 cents per watt on imported solar cells. Some Chinese factories are able to make cells for around 10 cents per watt.
Corning, known best for its glass and fiber-optic products, was also up 4.7%. Corning has expanded into solar production, making polysilicon -- the raw material used in panels -- and other precursor materials such as wafers and ingots at a new Michigan factory. Trump's rules created price floors on those products too.
Trump signed a proclamation imposing the policies on Thursday, citing national security concerns. Polysilicon is also the base material for semiconductors, and Trump argued that foreign companies control too much of the market for polysilicon.
"The United States' share of global polysilicon production capacity has fallen from 50 percent in 2005 to less than 2 percent in 2024," the proclamation says.
The tariffs take effect Dec. 4.
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