"Carbon Tariff" From The Perspective Of International Trade Law

Although climate change has become a common concern for the international community, there still exists great difference between developed and developing countries about the allocation of emission duties. And this difference has made the conclusion of an international emission agreement with binding reduction targets impossible. Therefore, in order to protect the international competitiveness of national industries, avoid carbon leakage, and force developing countries to make binding reduction commitments, the United States and European Union have both enacted legislation with a"carbon tariff"clause. However, in the view of the developing countries, as a unilateral measure,"carbon tariff"is a new kind of green trade barriers through which developed countries are actually achieving protectionism objects in the name of environmental protection.This article is written against the above background, and is divided into five sections. Firstly, in the Introduction, the context in which developed countries want to levy a"carbon tariff"is briefly introduced.Thereafter, in Chapter 1, basing on the discussion about the narrow and broad meaning of"carbon tariff", the specific definition of"carbon tariff"in this article is introduced. In a word,"any measure imposing certain specific charge on imports on the basis of carbon emission"can be called"carbon tariff". It can take the form of either traditional tariff or internal tax, allowance and so on.After that, in Chapter 2, four reasons for the imposition of"carbon tariff", which include protecting the international competitiveness of achieving political purposes, are analyzed. It is found that, in essence,"carbon tariff"is imposed for the purpose of protecting national political and economic benefits, not for the purpose of protecting the environment.Afterwards, in Chapter 3, the compatibility of"carbon tariff"with Article 1, 2, 3, 11, 13 and 20 of GATT1994 is analyzed. It is found that"carbon tariff"is likely to violate Article 1, 2, 11 and 13 of GATT1994. And when Article 20 of GATT1994 is invoked, it is likely that"carbon tariff"will not meet the requirements of Article 20(b); nonetheless it is likely to meet the requirements of Article 20(g), although it is difficult to prove that the requirements of the chapeau of Article 20 are met.At the end, in the Conclusion, it is found that under the WTO regime, Parties still have some discretion to take certain unilateral measures for the purpose of addressing climate change. And whether these measures constitute a violation of WTO rules depends on the specific design of such measures and the detailed conditions for its implementation.