Date: 12/03/21
Europe’s Green Deal and its planned carbon border tax are in serious trouble as the Biden administration raises concerns about its potentially disastrous fallout on international trade and relations.
According to the European Commission the EU’s Green Deal and its 2050 Net Zero target are threatening the very survival of Europe’s industries unless a carbon border tax is enforced upon countries that are not adopting the same expensive Net Zero policies.
It’s a matter of survival of our industry. So if others will not move in the same direction, we will have to protect the European Union against distortion of competition and against the risk of carbon leakage,” European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans warned in January.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament endorsed the creation of a carbon border tax that is planned to protect EU companies against cheaper imports from countries with weaker climate policies.
However, it would appear that the Biden administration is getting cold feet about the protectionist agenda and its potentially devastating impact of world trade, throwing a spanner in the EU’s plans.
John Kerry, Joe Biden’s climate envoy, has warned the EU that a carbon border tax should be a “last resort,” telling the Financial Times that he was “concerned” about Brussels’ forthcoming plans.
He urged the EU to delay any decision until after the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
It [a carbon border tax] does have serious implications for economies, and for relationships, and trade,” he said. “I think it is something that’s more of a last resort, when you’ve exhausted the possibilities of getting emission reductions and joining in some kind of compact by which everybody is bearing the burden.”
According to Kerry, the UN climate summit in November would be a success if all countries adopted Net Zero emissions targets similar to those adopted by Western nations.
The fundamental problem with Kerry’s demand, however, is that it contravenes the Paris Climate Agreement which cements the UN’s key principle of ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities.‘ This principle acknowledges that developing nations have different capabilities and differing responsibilities in reducing CO2 emissions.
Remember, taxing carbon dioxide will save the earth, so whats with these Biden people? I thought they wanted to save the earth because there is no time to waste. Who cares if we don’t save the earth their way? Apparently, they do. That should tell you something about them.
They have no interest in ‘saving’ the planet. It’s all about emotional manipulation in order to maintain control. They’re doubling down on the politically inspired rhetoric pushing a climate catastrophe because the science isn’t in line with what they need to in order to lock down absolute control of the worlds economy and the ability to arbitrarily redistribute the hard earned wealth of those who actually earned it.
Perhaps they’re noticing that the climate is cooling and their ability to call natural variability the result of human activity will disappear.
Brilliant, the climate mob have polotical control everywhere, and are proceeding to eat each other! Pass the popcorn!
Dammit I was hoping the EU would do it so they get cut to pieces in the trade war that follows … nothing like watching a blood bath in slow motion.
The US is about to commit economic suicide god help us
It has already committed political and social suicide, so why not complete the hat-trick? The Democrats don’t give a crap about economics. They care only about power. Their objective is to destroy the middle class.
Or, in the Marxist dialectic, the petty bourgeoisie.
Bingo, George!
and those assisting in that project are traitors…sabotaging the US economy…
I suggest both American political parties are traitors for promoting “free trade” which resulted in tens of thousands of factories moving overseas, mostly to China. It was good for elites of course- their asset values have shot up- especially their real estate and stock market investments. Meanwhile, the American working class, with shitty jobs, have become obese.
There was a feeling that manufacturing wasn’t where it was at. The economy would be driven by high tech. All the displaced manufacturing workers could become computer programmers or something like that.
In Canada there were government programs that would train laid off workers for a period of two years. Basically, that meant community college. I would say that was at least somewhat successful. Anyway, as far as I can tell, Canadian workers fared better than their American cousins. The other thing is that, prior to fracking, the oil sands were booming. Workers from all over the country were flocking to Fort McMoney and sending home fat pay cheques.
Formerly middle class American workers have had the American Dream ripped from their grasp. As a result, they are the only American demographic whose health outcomes are becoming worse. Like you said, obese, hooked on opioids and booze. link
The Republicans were at least honest. The Democrats stiffed the workers while pretending to support them. They thought they could get away with it because if the workers voted Republican they would be ‘voting against their interests’.
Donald Trump won by calling the scam for what it is. Sadly, the Democrats seem to have learned nothing. Expect the workers to continue getting shafted.
The computer jobs in middle management are being outsourced to India, where the salaries are 1/4 to 1/10 of ours and no benefits. The upper manage does not even try to hide it. Middle class gets screwed twice.
It was the government that drove the factories over seas, via too many taxes and too many regulations.
How does making everything we consume cost two or three times as much benefit the average person? That’s what happens when you ban free trade without fixing the problems caused by government first.
When Jimmy Carter took office, he inherited a variety of problems. Then he got some more problems. Is it fair to say that almost none of those problems were resolved during his time in office?
One of the problems was the unions.
Ronald Reagan focused on de-fanging the unions and one strategy was to expose American labor to foreign competition.
You could argue that labor was dragging the economy down. You could also argue that ‘they’ threw the baby out with the bath water.
With Reagan, we had a period of deregulation. Again, you could argue that ‘they’ got a bit carried away. Anyway, the over-regulation is back with a vengeance. My favorite example is the electrical code which feels like it’s an order of magnitude bigger than it used to be back in Reagan’s day.
The electrical code is supposed to keep the public safe. IMHO, the law of diminishing returns has set in. An actual credible analysis would be difficult but it seems to me that the public may be slightly less safe (complexity doesn’t improve safety) and the required costs have doubled.
Any time John Kerry has a hand in it, you automatically KNOW it’s some kind of a scam!
It was the quest for cheap labor that made them move overseas! That’s always been the goal of enterprises- the only reason for slavery- and the objective of busting labor unions.
China will happily provide everything the rest of the world does not allow itself to make because climate.
Sure, but in the EU taxing scenario, the crappy chinese product will still be insanely expensive due to the border tax, and that’s their goal. Can’t let foreign products off the hook for not adopting their same suicidal policies…
If the only country being affected were China, I bet Kerry would be all for it. My guess is that Kerry is against EU carbon taxes that would affect American businesses.
Biden has recently signed executive orders aimed at hardening the supply chain. link Part of the impetus for that is China’s apparent cyber war against America.
Some folks think Biden may be in China’s back pocket. It may not matter if that’s true or not. Both Republicans and Democrats are likely to support a bill aimed at combating China. link I’m guessing that Biden couldn’t get away with opposing it.
Then shortly after that, we’ll all be speaking Mandarin.
If you don’t already speak Mandarin you better get cracking. It is not easy.
My wife has a nephew who studied it- and spent time in The Middle Kingdom. Now he works for a bank in Boston owned by a Chinese American who doesn’t speak the language, having been born here. So one day some Chinese stopped at the bank- saw the owner and started talking to him- but he didn’t have a clue, so he called over my wife’s nephew, who looks much younger than his age- like a kid- and the kid spoke near fluently to the customer who was astounded that this Irish American kid spoke so well- while the owner didn’t know a word.
Lookout, there greens under your bed. We’d call that a hat trick where I come from.
You keep your hat under the bed? Are you sure its not the night pot?
He/she/it probably uses it as one. Thinks its raining in the morning
Loy-dodo is not very bright, y’see. !!
Stop breathing, Loydo, because that is an act of “carbon leakage”. Let us know how it works out.
At least he/she/it could try is a slowing down of its rabid panting and yapping !
The CO2 output must be horrendous !!
And there a big putrid green slimy puddle under your bed, loy-dodo. !
I think that only those who say they want a carbon tax should have to pay it.
What say you loy-dodo.
How will your unemployable benefits cope then ?
And of course you TOTALLY MISSED any comprehension of the blog post.. as always.
Wake up Loydo. You’ve been had mate-
Greatest threat to civilisation is ‘apparently non-existent’ (msn.com)
The solar panels windmills and batteries will never cut it and when they don’t and the lights go out the punters are going to ask what else did the climate changers and doomsters get wrong.
Once again, instead of actually dealing with the subject of the article, Loydo attempts to change the subject by beclowning himself.
What’s that? The EU are taking this nonsense seriously? Real devastating economic impacts then. No wonder Kerry’s a bit concerned. As Michael Caine might have said “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”
You have to remember that the EU are just petty far-leftist bureaucrats.
People’s welfare and social well-being is totally unimportant to them.
I would laugh but we have Doris and Carrie
Where’s my money?
A rapidly emerging hallmark of the Biden Administration is a foolish rush into wokeness, with accumulating unintended consequences. The southern border is in a crisis state. The attack against fossil fuels has already (Texas in February) been shown to be a disaster. The tacit encouragement of Antifa and BLM is destroying Portland, Oregon, with other cities in the crosshairs. Minneapolis just paid the George Floyd family, plus their lawyers, $27 million dollars, and there is no finding of culpability (they are now selecting a jury). And John Heinz Kerry has re-entered the Paris Agreement, and now is trying to put a brake on the EU net carbon zero by 2050?
I’m still wondering how any “agreement”, let alone something as large as the Paris Accords, binds the USA without the Senate voting. This whole thing is a massive farce.
The binding is voluntary. Greens are masochists.
It’s too bad that sane people are intangled in their web.
With any luck, this confrontation on Global Warming Policy could well turn into the Battle of the Idiots, which will be worth watching.
“worth watching”?
The collective incompetence of hundreds of ignorant, overpaid, unelected bureaucrats arguing about who can implement the largest “situation normal, all f’ed up”??
Not by a long shot. It is mainly worth targeting every stupidity they put forth as publicly as possible.
After a fashion, the thing is already rolling. Strictly= Not sailing.
From China but you guessed
Quote:
“”You can’t just increase your price due to the fact that you’re paying more to ship the product – that doesn’t improve the quality of the item itself.””
From here: Talking about garden furniture of all things
And is that not exactly what the EU are proposing to do?
It is a perfect mega whammy – they are increasing the price of imported Cheap Chinese tat which can only stimulate the production and consumption of Cheap European Tat.
Which on a practical day-to-day, breaks and needs replacing more often – thus increasing prices even more, creating more tax revenue BUT, using ever more ‘resource’
It will have The Exact Opposite Effect to what they claim they want.
Of course it’s what Tax Harvesters need to do when they are incompetent spendthrifts and are quite perfectly bankrupt
But they know that, how could they not and they are thus being mendacious in the extreme. ##
Do we assume or hope that The Game is now ‘up’?
2 Reasons:
Their grotesque, petty, childish, selfish & hypocritical (still ongoing) behaviour through the Brexit Debacle (and the Astra Zeneca Covid vaccine)
…..(##) many folks in the UK already knew and those that didn’t have had their noses rubbed in it…
And also, from that survey of young people we were reading about on here recently.
The kids have worked it out.
Some of them anyway…..
“Cheap Chinese tat”
Who was it said that the WuFlu had lasted longer and worked better than anything else to come out of China recently?
I’ve bought a couple different flashlights made in China, over the last 12 years. They’re both still going strong, working great.
So what does a carbon tax do to poor countries, destroy their exports to the west? I thought
Climate ChangeGlobal Socialism was about balancing things up. 🙂No, it’s about sharing the misery among everyone except the ruling class.
Even a totally anti-socialist government can be in favor of a carbon tax if it helps keep them elected and/or provides more money for their budget. That’s why CO2 emissions taxes are a career politicians dream, plus nearly every disastrous event can be blamed on climate change instead of poor planning.
“… protect against… the risk of carbon leakage.”
So many things wrong with that neo-religious statement it is laughable.
It literally takes a religious value belief about climate change to accept that nonsense.
On one level I laugh in their face. On another level it shows how easily Europeans have always been susceptible to propaganda manipulation and led down ruinous paths that use ideological purity and groupthink messaging.
Unfortunately, the western hemisphere, and the US in particular has just changed course to race down the same DEAD end.
“The Science” has yet to show any real evidence of “Climate Change”.
The best, most solid evidence we have is that CO2 in the atmosphere has increased about 50% and is stimulating plant growth everywhere- including for the human-caused wildfires in California and the Amazon.
“… protect against… the risk of carbon leakage.”
Sounds like we need a giant Depends around the planet’s nether regions.
“… protect against… the risk of carbon leakage.”
Depends ….
An interesting real life example of the Precautionary Principle in action.
In the EU they are noting some cases of blood clotting in the vaccinated using the AZ vaccine.
It is not proven that these have any connexion with vaccination. So many are getting the vaccine that its hard to distinguish between the natural level you would expect in such a large random sample, and any causal relationship there might be.
So the Precautionary Principle is invoked. Stop vaccinating.
And while doing so, do not consider what the costs of stopping vaccinating will be. Just as we should not consider the cost of going zero carbon.
That is quite wrong, its old fashioned cost-benefit analysis, and this is a crisis!
once you accept that climate change policies have nothing at all to do with climate change, it all makes sense what it is pushed and why.
This is the kind of fiscal reality I mean when I say that the BiDems won’t be able to implement their Green Raw Deal. The chip shortage which has hit auto manufacturers and cell phone manufacturers, the seat foam shortage, this is what will stop it. Reality is a cold cold bitch, and they are so economically ignorant that the idea of an energy downturn actually reducing economic output is beyond their ken.
They’ve got one year before the 2020 campaign season stops them cold, and the more political capitol they waste on allowing men to win women’s races, the less they have for their Green Raw Deal. They can make all the speeches they want, print all the money they want, but there aren’t enough resources to even begin implementing any of it; at the moment, there aren’t even enough for a normal manufacturing output because their damned lockdowns have stifled the economy, and their Green Raw Deals can’t make up for it.
The 2022 election cycle doesn’t matter. Nor does the 2024 cycle. Because it doesn’t matter anymore who casts the votes. It only matters who counts the votes.
The Dems control how our votes are counted. They and their globalist corporate masters will be in control of the federal government from now on out.
America’s economy can’t produce anything like the quantities of cement, steel, solar panels, batteries, and windmills needed to reach the GND’s near-term goals for the renewables.
The Democrats will follow the dictates of their globalist corporate masters and will offshore most of the GND’s manufacturing production to Asia with the excuse that the urgency of solving the climate crisis demands it be done.
And once again, middle class Americans and the working class will be screwed.
They counted the votes and still lost House seats and didn’t get as many Senate seats as they and the media projected. They aren’t doing a very good job.
Trump’s actual victory on November 3rd was so large, and his coat tails so long, the vote thieves had no time left to do what was needed to quickly steal the down ballot races as well as the presidential race. They had to concentrate their November 4th vote stealing production operation on the presidential side of the election. The Democrat’s veteran vote thieves will be much better prepared for 2022.
Oh dear! Trouble in paradise?
I’m confused! Haven’t they been telling us that green renewable energy is cheaper. There is no way they should need a tax to protect them because renewables are way cheaper than baseload alternatives. Or did I mishear?
Wait till after the big show. We know you lust for carbon tax revenue because you always need more revenue and more tariff walls for the EU, but put a cork in it till after the PR event.
The Carbon Smoot Hawley Act will rock your world and lead to war.
This. Worldwide economic depression followed by WWIII.
Meanwhile in China and India they are laughing and laughing and laughing at us and self imposed economic suicide over Marxist policy. You actually would have a hard time making this up. Even the likes of George Orwell didn’t see the west playing ourselves for idiots while the developing world mocks us.
China doesn’t approve of a European wall, so Biden protests. China approves of wars without borders and transnational terrorism, so Biden returns to Iran to recycle JCPOA with “benefits”.
The EU was built for tariff walls–any excuse will do.
I wonder if school children will now be indoctrinated to fear “carbon leakage?”
What the hell is carbon leakage, anyway? Is that when worms are eating your dead corpse? Because that IS kind of a scary premise for many horror movies.