​​Can Protectionism Really Protect? US-China Tariff War on Green Technology Industry​

Historically, tariffs have been employed by United States (US) administrations to safeguard domestic industries from the unfair competition posed by foreign suppliers, with origins stemming from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 (Iacuri & Sola 2025). During 2024-2025, both the Biden and Trump administrations have introduced various tariffs on foreign products, in an attempt to either seek re-negotiation of trade contracts or shield key domestic industries. A “tariff war” has escalated under the Trump administration in 2025, when the “fentanyl” tariffs on Canadian, Chinese and Mexican-origin goods and the reciprocal tariffs on global goods were introduced (Lowell et al. 2025). In this article, we examine the impact of such protectionism on the development of a key industry – green technology.