First modification: 15/04/2021 – 23:40Last modification: 15/04/2021 – 23:38
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Washington (AFP)
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai advocated using international trade rules to combat climate change on Thursday, a week before a virtual climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden.
The meeting, scheduled for April 22 and 23 at the initiative of the President of the United States, will bring together almost 40 world leaders. Among the guests are the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico.
“For too long, the traditional business community has resisted the idea that trade policy can be a legitimate tool to help solve the climate crisis,” said Tai, in his first speech in office.
“As we have seen so many times with labor issues, we hide behind the idea that this is all a matter of internal politics and that we do not need to tackle the arduous task of building an international consensus around new rules,” he stressed.
In a videoconference organized by the Center for American Progress institute for political analysis, Tai argued that not integrating environmental issues into international trade regulation “ignores the reality that the existing rules of globalization incentivize downward pressure on environmental protection. “.
“Going forward, trade has a role to play,” he said.
– Combat illegal logging and excessive fishing –
Tai promised to enforce the provisions of the T-MEC, the free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada updated, he said, with the highest environmental standards.
But while he praised this breakthrough, he called for going further to address the economic costs of environmental challenges through trade.
He cited “two practical problems”: ending illegal logging and combating overfishing that is destroying the marine ecosystem.
“Forests are the lungs of our planet and we must use trade policies … to protect them,” he said.
“But we must be aware that we will only truly address the global scale of this problem through global rules,” he insisted.
The same goes for solving the problem of intensive fishing and ocean pollution that destroys the marine environment.
“That is why the fisheries negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are so crucial,” he said.
– “Strategic” supply chains –
What to do to mitigate climate change?
According to Tai, “developing innovative environmental technologies, goods and services and cultivating strategic international supply chains for trade will be critical.”
“From clean energy to low-emission vehicles and other technologies, reliable access to these goods and services will be essential for our transition to zero (carbon dioxide) emissions by 2050,” he argued.
The US trade representative’s speech follows Biden’s policy of using all government ministries, and not just environmental agencies, to fight climate change.
In January, the Democratic president signed an executive order in which he indicated that the subject of the climate would be “an essential element of the foreign policy and the national security of the United States”.
It recently unveiled a plan of more than $ 2 trillion for infrastructure investments over the next eight years that should give a notable boost to the deployment of electric vehicles or the transition to renewable energy.
For the Biden administration, the United States’ efforts to protect the climate should not translate into the export of polluting industries to countries with lower standards. And only global and concerted action can meet this challenge.
© 2021 AFP
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