The Download: Trump’s tariffs, and the DOJ’s proposals for Google

President-elect Donald Trump’s “America First” plan to enact huge tariffs on imported goods threatens to jack up the cost and slow down the development of US cleantech projects.

These plans could easily add billions of dollars to the prices that US companies—and therefore consumers—pay for batteries and electric vehicles, as well as the steel used to build solar farms, geothermal plants, nuclear facilities, transmission lines, and much more.

Here are three areas where the costs of materials and products that are crucial to the energy transition could rise. Read the full story.

—James Temple

Google’s antitrust gut punch and the Trump wild card

Last week, the US Department of Justice released its recommendations for proposed remedies in its antitrust case against Google. While no one thought the DOJ would go easy on Google, the remedies it did suggest are profound and, if enacted, could be catastrophic to its business.

Next, Google will make its own set of proposals to the court. Finally, Judge Amit Mehta, who has been presiding over the case, will have to decide which, if any, of these remedies to enact. So what is the DOJ proposing, and what role will the incoming Trump administration play?

—Mat Honan