It’s meant to stop what’s known as ‘carbon leakage’ – when production moves elsewhere to avoid climate policies – but the solution has economic, legal and environmental consequences.
In a global economy, passing laws to conserve forests, fisheries or other natural resources can simply shift demand for those goods to other countries or regions where they aren’t as well protected.
Millions of American flags come from China. Yet despite being symbols of patriotism, they’re not among the products subject to new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Trump claimed that ‘we would be punishing ourselves’ by using US arms sales to Saudi Arabia as a bargaining chip over the disappearance of Khashoggi. A look at the arms trade shows why he’s wrong.
Venezuela recently devalued its bolivar by 95 percent to tame rabid hyperinflation that has been sending prices on everyday goods through the roof. If history is a guide, it won’t work.
The complexity of the reforms might jeopardise the necessary cooperation of overseas businesses, and place consumers at risk of paying wrongly charged GST.
The illegal timber trade is a huge global business worth up to US$150 billion yearly. One way to curb it is by convincing consumers in wealthy countries that buying contraband wood products is wrong.
On March 1, Donald Trump imposed a series of steel and aluminum tariffs. To understand their potential impact, it’s instructive to look at what happened after George W. Bush enacted similar measures in 2002.