President Donald Trump's trade policies have disrupted every sector of the economy, including energy. A nuclear power plant project in Michigan could be the latest victim of the president's tariffs.
In 2024, the Palisades Nuclear Plant, which was closed in 2022, received a loan guarantee of $1.52 billion from the Energy Department. With an additional $300 million grant from the state of Michigan, Holtec Palisades (which owns the power plant) will restart the plant with two 300 megawatt small modular reactors developed by Hyundai Engineering and Construction.* If brought back online, it would be the first nuclear power plant in the U.S. to restart after being scheduled for decommissioning. Even though it was a favored Biden administration project, the restart has received support from Trump's Energy Department, which approved a $57 million loan disbursement in March.
Still, the government's subsidies aren't shielding the Palisades plant from the impacts of Trump's protectionist agenda. Bloomberg recently reported that the project's South Korean construction partner is reconsidering its procurement plans to account for tariffs.*
