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US raises concerns over Europe’s planned carbon ‘border tax’
(EurActiv, 11 May 2021) Implementing a border levy to price carbon-intensive imports and protect European industries will be “extremely complicated,” warned Jonathan Pershing, a member of the US climate envoy’s team.
“I do note that it’s extremely complicated to think about the structure of a border tax,” Pershing told participants at a EURACTIV debate last Friday (7 May).
“I don’t disagree in principle that it has value, but I think that it’s got enormous complexity,” he warned.
The carbon border adjustment mechanism, due to be revealed in July, aims to put a price on imports from countries where it is cheaper to pollute, as a way of protecting European manufacturers facing higher carbon costs.
But it has ruffled feathers around the world. Emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa, India and China, have criticised the plan as “discriminatory” and unfair to developing nations.
Across the Atlantic, US climate envoy John Kerry warned in March that the EU levy should be envisaged only as a last resort measure, saying: “It does have serious implications for economies, and for relationships, and trade.”
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EurActiv, 11 May 2021: US raises concerns over Europe’s planned carbon ‘border tax’
