The international press reports, “At Climate Talks, Danger to Free Trade Mounts.”
The Copenhagen negotiations have essentially failed to include, among the many topics covered, one that will be critical in the coming years: the question of import tariffs or other trade penalties that individual countries apply against the products of other countries that they deem too carbon-intensive. Such border measures are already in EU and US legislation (the Waxman-Markey bill, not yet passed by the Senate). Properly designed, they could turn out to be the missing instrument needed to get each country to cut emissions without fear of others taking unfair advantage, via leakage. More likely, national politics will turn them into protectionist barriers.