U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a steep tariff on imported solar panels Tuesday, a move billed as a way to protect American jobs but which the solar industry said would lead to thousands of layoffs and raise consumer prices.

The 30 percent tariff on solar panels is among the first unilateral trade restrictions imposed by the administration as part of a broader protectionist agenda to help U.S. manufacturers, but which has alarmed Asian trading partners that produce lower cost goods. The administration also introduced a tariff on imported washing machines.

“You’re going to have people getting jobs again and we’re going to make our own product again. It’s been a long time,” Trump said as he signed the order.

But the U.S. solar industry countered that the move will raise the cost of installing panels, quash billions of dollars of investment, and kill tens of thousands of jobs, raising questions about whether Trump’s move will backfire by triggering mass layoffs.

“We are not happy with this decision,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association, on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “It’s just basic economics — if you raise the price of a product it’s going to decrease demand for that product.”

The leading solar trade group predicted that the tariffs could cut forecast solar installations this year by nearly 20 percent to 9 gigawatts from 11 gigawatts, and lead to the loss of 23,000 jobs in the United States, the world’s fourth-largest solar market after China, Japan and Germany.

Research firm Wood Mackenzie estimated that over the next five years the tariffs would reduce U.S. solar installation growth by 10 to 15 percent.

The U.S. solar industry employs more than 260,000 workers, about five times more than the coal industry, with the vast majority involved in installation rather than panel manufacturing.

U.S. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a big solar power producing state, said in a Twitter post that the tariffs amount to “nothing more than a tax on consumers.” (SD-Agencies)