It's Time to Face the Tax

Germany's Social Democrats call for climate sanctions on U.S. goods

Posted at 7:56 AM on 19 Dec 2007

Angered by what it sees as America's climate inaction and obstructionism, the Social Democratic Party in Germany has called for sanctions on imports of energy-intensive products from the U.S. "The U.S. is a major part of the problem. Levying special taxes or sanctions on energy-intensive U.S. products, such as steel and aluminum, which are exported to Europe, could be the first step," said Ulrich Kelber, a party leader. "We cannot let the U.S. continue to block multilateral agreements, as it tried with Kyoto, or weaken them, as it did in Bali." The Social Democrats have attempted similar moves before without success. While the Green Party and others also support the sanctions, it's unclear what chances the proposal has of becoming official German policy or getting passed by the European Parliament.

sources: International Herald Tribune

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Comments: (4 comments)

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At least it's some accountability

If we don't incorporate environmental regulations into our manufacturing, then our goods are artificially cheaper because we don't internalize the costs of the damage to the earth. I think it is fair that Germany might try to correct this with a tax.

http://www.scryve.com

by Arturi at 8:54 AM on 19 Dec 2007

Taxing

I totally agree that Germany or any other country should tax us for being obstructionist and not helping the planet,but damaging it.If they are going to do us then,I also want them to do China and or Korea or India.We,in the U.S.,need to get this moronic president out and get on the road to helping to heal this planet.We aparently can't compete on the world economic market because of other countries using extremely cheap labor and not worrying about environmental pollution.We need some equity in the world.We need to get our act together and develope renewable energy.

Why not ask why!?

by usandthem at 11:23 AM on 19 Dec 2007

Why they probably won't

If such a policy were adopted by the German government as a formal trade policy, the US in all likelihood will initiate proceedings under the WTO on the grounds that this policy unfairly targets an individual member. WTO court precedents do not have controlling value on future decisions, but if the past is any guide, the US would likely prevail in such a dispute. The Germans would do better--again, if history is a guide--if they applied the policy uniformly against all trading partners and established the scientific basis conclusively between world industrial practices and harm to the German people and environment.

The US's ban on tuna that was caught with sea turtle-unfriendly methods would be a valuable lesson on how to properly target industrial practices that are environmentally unsound.

by guade00 at 12:34 PM on 19 Dec 2007

Washington is considering exactly the same thing

This looks to me like a direct response to the US Climate Security Act, which also has a provision to block carbon-intensive imports to the US. I wrote about this on Carbon Copy.

by rorywilliams at 12:55 PM on 19 Dec 2007

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