International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Trade and Environment

117 posts

Subsidies and Clean Energy Competition

Sometimes there's a fine line between protectionism and promoting the domestic economy. From Bloomberg: The Obama administration today announced that 183 companies, including PPG Industries Inc. and Itron Inc., will get a total of $2.3 billion worth of tax credits for clean-energy manufacturing projects in 43 states.

Carbon Tariffs on Out-of-State Coal Energy

Via Sallie James of Cato, I came across this story: Minnesota recently enacted a plan to tax electricity generated by carbon-intensive methods in North Dakota--specifically, a carbon fee of $4 to $34 per ton of CO2 emissions in addition to the normal cost of coal power. Naturally, North Dakota'

Nuclear Waste, Trade and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

My post on the WTO-legality of an import ban on nuclear waste generated a fair amount of discussion (including a reference to the movie Back to the Future!), so I thought I'd follow-up with this quote from Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns, who explains his opposition to the import

Some Carbon Import Tariff Specifics: A 9% Duty

From Daniel Gros over at vox: The Commission has estimated that a carbon price of around the €40-50 per tonne would be required to reach the EU’s 2020 commitments. This would imply, at current exchange rates, about $50-70 per tonne. This might be too high for the US, where

Import Bans on Nuclear Waste: The GATT Article XX Defense

The other day, I did a short post on a possible U.S. ban on imports of nuclear waste (the importation would be for processing and disposal here in the U.S.). I didn't say anything about the legal issues, because I thought the conclusion was clear --

Assessing EU Carbon Measures

From Daniel Gros at VOX: Why a cap-and-trade system can be bad for your healthThe purpose of a cap-and-trade system is to help in the fight against global climate change. This column warns that a unilateral approach could increase global emissions by shifting production to more carbon-intensive methods abroad. Acting

Trade in Everything: Nuclear Waste

From the AP: The House on Wednesday passed a bill banning the importation of radioactive waste for disposal in the United States. The move was prompted by a Salt Lake City company's plan to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italian nuclear plants. The waste

The Economist on the Trade / Cap and Trade Conflict

The Economist has a good article discussing the likely trade conflicts arising from cap and trade measures. They talk about the problem of countries reducing emissions by varying amounts, and the possibility of companies relocating production to "carbon havens." According to the article, studies suggest that the scope

Clean Energy Competition

When I read about proposals to reduce tariffs on environmental goods and services, my sense is that, assuming trade negotiators can agree on anything these days, this should be a goal that is achievable. On the other hand, subsidies and discriminatory government procurement in the area of clean energy seem

Talking Tough on Carbon Tariffs

A difficult question from one of China's representatives to the WTO:"The United States per capita emission rate is four times as big as China's. Does that mean we can impose 400 percent tax rates on all imported American goods? If so, the result is