Trump’s clean energy attacks are costing the US jobs

This article is part of our ​“Chart of the Week” series.

President Donald Trump’s attacks on clean energy haven’t spelled disaster for the energy transition — but they have definitely hurt job prospects for Americans.

Between January 2025, when Trump took office for his second term, and May 2026, a total of 216 major clean energy generation and manufacturing projects were scrapped, closed, or downsized, according to a new report from the business-focused advocacy group E2.

Those cancellations, driven in large part by the Trump administration’s hostility toward clean energy, have resulted in the loss of nearly half a million potential jobs, E2 found. Just over a tenth of those would have been permanent roles at clean energy facilities, while the rest would have been either temporary construction jobs or steady work in roles supporting the sector, from selling building materials to serving food at restaurants near a new factory.

Trump took office amid an unprecedented surge in the clean energy economy. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act spurred the rapid construction of both renewable power projects and domestic factories intended to build solar panels, electric vehicles, batteries, and other crucial cleantech.

But the boom went bust pretty much as soon as Trump won the election in late 2024. Even before Trump and congressional Republicans gutted the Inflation Reduction Act one year ago, companies began reevaluating and stepping away from investments given Trump’s favoritism for fossil fuels and opposition to renewables, particularly wind.

When it comes to jobs, most of the damage to date is in the EV sector, which in the U.S. was already plagued by high costs and weak demand prior to the Trump administration ripping away key discounts for car buyers.

Still, new clean energy continues to be built in America, and while EV sales have taken a hit, they haven’t ground to a halt. The country’s solar manufacturing industry is notching new milestones, and EV makers are pivoting their battery-making factories to serve the red-hot storage sector.

The clean economy has had some real setbacks since Trump took office last year — but it’s still poised to grow even without support from the federal government. 

Canary Media’s ​“Chart of the Week” series is supported by Amazon. Amazon is working toward a carbon-free energy future — optimizing efficiency, investing where it matters most, and supporting communities where we operate.