The US has now supported trade of environmentally friendly products in a great way. Representatives have been sent to Copenhagen to talk about the deal. The basic idea is to decrease tariffs (taxes on imports) on green products, while possibly imposing a "carbon tax" on imports from countries that aren't so environmentally friendly. They believe this will reduce a large number of carbon emissions, but some experts are scared that it will decrease trade as well.
I really think that this is a great idea. I have been thinking that there should be a good incentive for green products for a
while. People respond to incentives. That's just simple economics. This is very much a win-win situation because it (in most ways)
will boost the economy and help the environment. This act would also create an increase in green technologies, because it would
make many products cheaper and able to be sold easier. Innovation is always great. The only problem I see with this is the
"carbon tax". This, at first, sounds like a good idea, but it would probably decrease a lot of trade. China would definitely have a
major "carbon tax" and we import tons of things from them. It might give them incentive to be more green, but it could just get
them to stop trading. That is not good. Otherwise, this seems to be a very solid plan.
Reuters. "US Proposes Innovative Trade Concept to Fight Climate Change." Enn.com. 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. .
Sorry about the formatting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with wilson that this is a good idea. Not only will it help the U.S. be more green, but it will also increase efficiency of green technology through competition. The better the green technology the more we will use that item, so other countries will be competing to get our business. This is good not only for our country but also the world cause this would produce much better green technology.
ReplyDeleteWilson makes some very strong points in his reflection. The carbon tax is a good idea, but when implemented could either cause China to become more green, or could lead to a stop in Chinese-American trade. This would worsen the American economy even more than it already is if China were to stop it's trade with the US.
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