Solar trade war: It is apparent from ongoing discussions concerning which countries will be excluded from the steel/aluminum tariffs and which countries/companies will be excluded from the module/cell tariffs that the Trump Administration is using tariffs as a negotiating tool. The problem with bringing a baseball bat to a negotiation is that though you might win in the short term, the use or threat of the bat will not be forgotten. Power changes direction all of the time, and there are plenty of historic examples of this fact.