Industry warns looming “green trade war”
July 23, 2009
23 July 2009
Industry warns looming “green trade war”
This article is excerpted from the 23 July 2009 edition of “American Shipper”.
U.S. trade groups warned Senate lawmakers on Wednesday to refrain from including certain trade and competitiveness provisions in its version of climate-change legislation….
The groups cited provisions contained in the House’s 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), which include creating the international reserve allowance program and permitting tariffs or “border measures” on carbon-intensive imports.
The groups said the provisions are “highly inflexible, and likely to conflict with obligations the United States has undertaken in international trade agreements. In fact, these provisions are already stirring consternation among some of our key trading partners and could trigger a ‘green trade war.’”
The groups urged the U.S. government to instead seek an international consensus not only on an agreement at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but also on the use of trade-related measures in domestic climate change legislation. …