At the hearing of EU trade commissioner-to-be Karel De gucht he rejected the idea of a carbon emission import tax for goods originating from countries that pollute the planet with carbon. The disadvantage of these protectionist measures is that they quickly result in trade wars, which would not be a good start for a trade commissionar (who was already involved in a quarrel with Congo last week).
This tax has been proposed by Sarkozy to enable europe to go forward with carbon emission cutting measures without putting our industry at a disadvantage on the internal market. It could well be the only means to go ahead with carbon cutting measures after the failure to find a world wilde consensus at the Kopenhagen climate summit.
Import taxes are a good means to protect internal market restrictions that are not applied elsewhere.
They might also be used to counter the disadvantages of our social system for the industry against countries that do not protect their working class.
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