Trade and Environment

I was a bit surprised by the ban on incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. energy bill (probably because I hadn't been following the legislation very closely).  Usually regulation of this sort consists of higher standards, or maybe occasionally additional taxes, but here we have an outright

New U.S. fuel efficiency standards were signed into law today.  Will we see a repeat of the early 1990s U.S. - Autos case?  A National Foreign Trade Council report thinks it is possible, but probably unlikely: Unlike other bills, which continue the 1994 CAFE standards' distinction between

In reaction to the proposal for carbon border measures noted here the other day, the Economist's Free Exchange blog expresses skepticism: There are good reasons to react cautiously toward this idea, however. In the first place, developed nation carbon pricing is likely to be helpful to the fight

From a NY Times op-ed, here is an argument that carbon consumption should be the focus of carbon regulation, which necessarily requires carbon border measures: A problem would arise, however, if a producer needed to buy permits to make televisions in a country with a carbon cap, while no permits

He seems to like them: I will also require strong environmental standards so multinational companies cannot profit by exploiting weak environmental laws and enforcement in some countries. For example, after the U.S. has capped its greenhouse gas pollution as I have proposed, trade policy could be used if necessary

If Florida and California were sovereign states, they might be at the WTO with this: Last week, the Florida Department of Agriculture issued a new regulation requiring all citrus fruit shipped from California to Florida to be inspected, fumigated and certified free of a fungal disease known as Septoria spot.

From a speech in Indonesia: There has been a great deal of media attention based on statements from those who propose restricting imports based on carbon intensity of production methods. This is the wrong action at wrong time. Restricting imports easily leads to covert protectionism, undermining both environment and economic

This sounds like something along the lines of what Joseph Stiglitz had in mind: [The European Parliament invites the European Commission] to consider whether it would be appropriate to evaluate the rules on trade defence measures, such as the rules on anti-dumping or subsidies, under the WTO aegis, with a