Economist Paul Krugman says that President Obama is wrong to oppose trade sanctions contemplated in the Climate Bill passed by the House on Friday. Not only does he consider them to be necessary, but also, allowable under World Trade Organization fair-trade exceptions related to non-economic objectives.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/...
From the President's comments:
At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we’ve seen a significant drop in global trade," Mr. Obama said, "I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there.
The provision requiring the President to impose a "border adjustment" on goods from Countries not limiting their "global warming emissions" is intended to prevent U.S. producers from being disadvantaged.
I think Krugman is correct. Some kind of tariff will be necessary to "even the playing field".
The President seems willing to let the details work themselves out. The tariff question will be another nice piece of gymnastics for the Congress to perform in reaching an agreement.
President Obama's bottom line for climate legislation:
meaningful reductions in heat-trapping gas emissions, strong incentives for energy efficiency, protections for consumers and businesses against spikes in energy costs, and deficit neutrality
.