Here’s an interesting proposal from overseas for helping to save the planet from climate change, via rfi
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed that Europe should impose a carbon tax on American imports if Donald Trump pulls the United States out of the Paris climate pact.
More than 100 countries have ratified the Paris global emissions deal, which was inked in December after marathon talks to cap greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
“Donald Trump has said – we’ll see if he keeps this promise – that he won’t respect the conclusions of the Paris climate agreement,” Sarkozy, who is a French presidential candidate told the TF1 television channel on Sunday.
“Well, I will demand that Europe put in place a carbon tax at its border, a tax of 1-3 per cent, for all products coming from the United States, if the United States doesn’t apply environmental rules that we are imposing on our companies,” he added.
On the one hand, I could see a President Trump digging in his heels and not taking the hint, even proposing subsidies to impacted companies; I might even sympathize, seeing as family members tell me I’m a contrarian1. On the other hand, 1-3% hardly seems strong enough to get the message across; it should be punitive, so 10-20% might make more sense, just to beat some sense into those bloody Americans.
In the end, I suspect the difficulties of multinational companies will cause this proposal to be stillborn. But as a symbolic thought, it’s quite interesting.
(h/t Iberian on The Daily Kos)
1Strictly speaking, a non-scientific assertion, since it’s non-falsifiable
