This month, the International Trade Commission (ITC) voted on remedy recommendations for Trump so he can bring U.S. solar manufacturing back to life. The commission had already ruled unanimously that cheap solar imports have flooded the U.S. market and caused significant injury, driving an entire industrial segment to the brink of extinction. The ruling and recommendations came as a result of a complaint under Section 201 of the Trade Act we filed at Suniva, joined by SolarWorld Americas — the two largest remaining U.S. solar cell and module manufacturing companies. At one time, my company employed 350 people in four states.

Winning before the ITC mattered, but ultimately it is up to Trump to impose a remedy that works, and unfortunately the watered-down recommendations sent to him by the commissioners don’t do enough. Different commissioners supported different plans, which include a mix of tariffs and quotas at various levels, but all of them fell short of the stronger tariffs and quotas we know are needed to reopen factories and eventually invest in new ones to save this high-tech American manufacturing sector.