Carbon Border Measures Seen Breaking WTO Trade Rules

(Reuters – Jonathan Lynn)

Border measures to protect domestic manufacturers from unfair foreign competition as part of climate change legislation could run foul of global trade rules, a Brussels think tank said on Thursday. Such border measures could also be economically unworkable, said Fredrik Erixon, director of the ECIPE research institute.

"Many countries are going to think twice because they know they are going to unleash quite hard responses, very likely retaliation, from other countries," Erixon told a conference call about a study on trade and climate. "It is difficult to see how they are going to be squared with basic rules," he said. Read more here.

The full ECIPE paper can be accessed here. (PDF — 31 pages)