China and India on Friday lashed out at the possibility of the United States slapping so-called carbon tariffs on goods imported from countries that pollute, even though analysts said proposed U.S. measures were years away and would be hard to implement.
"Green" protectionism is likely to cause unease at next week's G-8 meeting in Italy and at a separate 17-member Major Economies Forum gathering. It is also a growing concern in U.N. talks that aim to seal a broader climate pact at year's end in Copenhagen.
China, the world's No. 1 greenhouse gas emitter, said carbon tariffs would violate World Trade Organization rules as well as the spirit of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.
Carbon tariffs would "seriously hurt the interests of developing countries" and "disrupt the order of international trade," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Although the ministry did not directly mention the United States, the comments come a week after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Clean Energy and Security Act, which includes "carbon equalization" provisions that could go into effect in 2025.
The measures are meant to give rich nations a way to protect domestic industries that fear putting a price on carbon emissions will make their goods more expensive compared with imports from developing nations. Some industries also fear jobs and energy-intensive manufacturing could shift to poorer nations.
"We are completely surprised and rather dismayed by the development. This is an attempt to bring trade and competitiveness into environmental negotiations," a top Indian climate negotiator said in reference to the U.S. legislation.
The steps in the proposed legislation would involve raising duties on imports from countries that are not making the same effort to cut emissions and would focus on goods such as cement and steel, which need a lot of energy to produce.
"This is the quid pro quo for cap-and-trade, but the international community can't be held down by the domestic political compulsions of President Obama," said the Indian official, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Obama said last week that he was not in favor of climate-linked protectionism.
Concerned that their efforts to curb greenhouse gases would put their industries at a competitive disadvantage, the United States, Canada and the European Commission have put forward proposals to "level the playing field."
