President Trump's decision to slap a massive tariff on solar panel parts will not doom the solar power industry in the United States, but it's a bad idea.

Consumers will pay more and some workers will lose their jobs. The overall trend toward solar, however, will not likely be stalled in the long run.

The administration approved tariffs as high as 30 percent on panel imports, gradually shrinking to 15 percent over the next four years.

Some 80 percent of solar panels include imported parts. Most of these come from China, which tired of choking on smoke from coal-power plants and has pushed solar energy in recent years.

Spokesmen for the solar energy say some 260,000 people work in solar panel installation and service and that some 20,000 of these might lose their jobs due to reduced demand. Prices for solar panel installation are estimated to go up by 10 percent or so.

Of course, supply and demand should kick in, and many of these parts will wind up being manufactured in America again. (Some of the impetus from the tariffs came from companies who claim they were priced out of the market by cheap imports.

Still it's interesting that the Trump administration decided to go after solar panels first, rather than, say, imported luxury cars or air conditioners.

It's of a piece with a policy that appears to equate solar energy with marijuana and free love. Under Trump, the government has cut back on tax credits and deductions for solar and wind energy and rolled back Obama-era rules that penalized emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Still, solar panels remain relatively cheap -- say, compared to building an all-new nuclear power plant -- and solar power will probably continue to grow, though at a slower pace.

Solar power generation in North Carolina alone rose from less than 1 megawatt in 2007 to 1,437 megawatts in 2015. Duke Energy owns or operates 27 solar power farms, and eight more are announced. Other corporations are building, too.

Mr. Trump can say nice things about putting coal miners back to work, but the fact is, solar and natural gas production are underpricing coal. Also, solar panels don't really pollute.

It's a shame that the president seems intent on bringing back the past, at least when it comes to energy production. Other, more advanced countries, such as China and the European Union members, are expanding solar and wind-power production. It would be nice if the USA caught up.