Solar panels at a Pacific Gas and Electric solar plant in Dixon, California. 
Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / AP

President Donald Trump’s foray into trade protectionism heartened a handful of manufacturers in a deeply challenged industry but upset a much larger group of thriving downstream businesses that say they will lose sales and shed employees during what should be a boom time.

The steel and aluminum business? No, that’s the response to Trump’s first major tariff — the one he imposed in late Januaryon solar cells and panels made overseas. Companies that have been thriving installing rooftop solar panels say the 30 percent levy on imports has dealt their businesses a heavy blow.

The tariff may help a handful of surviving U.S. companies that make photovoltaic cells and the panels made of the cells, allowing them to compete with much cheaper imports from China and elsewhere. In one twist on the Trump policy, though, the American subsidiary of a Chinese solar giant may be one of the first clear beneficiaries of the policy.

Companies that […]