I was off last week, so I am late to note the Aug. 5 layoffs of 93 employees at Heliene, a solar panel component factory in Mountain Iron, Minn. It’s the subject of today’s column (gift link).

There are two snap assessments one could make. You could say that this is President Trump’s fault. He put tariffs on the solar cells Heliene imports for its products and cut the tax credits that had fueled demand for said products. All of that is true.

You could also say that it’s another economic development deal where the elaborate process of locating the jobs in rural places like Mt. Iron end up being too complicated to sustain. I was skeptical of this project in an earlier form, before Heliene stepped in to take advantage of the available production space in a city-owned building. That’s fair, too.

I forge a slightly different take. The Trump Administration has been far too obtuse about renewable energy, prioritizing spite instead of developing more diverse energy options. This country needs a cohesive, preferably bipartisan approach to electrification of our ever-expanding technology.

Frankly, we need an industrial policy to account for the rapid change that is putting workers everywhere on the unemployment line — something former President Biden tried to do, but couldn’t sell.

Read “As layoffs strike a Minnesota solar company, U.S. industrial policy needs sunlight,” in the Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.