Protectionism’s green eyeshades

ProtectionismÆs green eyeshades       The United States may be late to the renewable energy table compared to Europe and some Asian countries, but with vast potential consumer and industrial use and related technological advances underway within our borders, it is rapidly becoming a world leader.
      Public enthusiasm for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the environment has remained largely undaunted, despite the global recession. Businesses, including freight transportation providers, have responded with promises of greener operations and product development.
      Now it seems everyone is on board the clean energy bandwagon, including trade protectionists, whose fingerprints are evident in the House's 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act. The legislation contains provisions for creating an international reserve allowance program and permitting tariffs or 'border measures' on carbon-intensive imports.
      These types of measures, if enacted, would clash with obligations that the United States has already undertaken in international trade agreements. A group of trade associations recently warned Senate lawmakers of the dire consequences if they also choose to include similar provisions in their version of climate-change legislation expected later this year.
      The trade associations ' Emergency Committee for American Trade, National Foreign Trade Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Council for International Business ' correctly pointed out that the House bill's provisions are 'already stirring consternation among some of our key trading partners and could trigger a 'green trade war,' ' which no one needs. Instead, the groups urge the U.S. government to demonstrate its leadership through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and develop trade policies based on international consensus.
      U.S. developers of renewable energy and cleaner burning fossil fuel technologies have an opportunity to become major exporters to a world that urgently needs to work together on greenhouse emissions controls. With the exception of implementing intellectual property rights approved by the World Trade Organization, tariffs and other protectionist measures on renewable energy technologies would serve no benefit and promise to cripple this potential boon in U.S. trade.