“It is not conducive to world economic recovery and it serves nobody’s interest,” He said of the tariff proposal. The US House of Representatives narrowly approved legislation last week that calls for the country’s first limits on pollution linked to global warming. One provision of the bill could impose tariffs on imports from countries that do not make similar reductions. The bill still must be considered by the US Senate.
President Barack Obama also has expressed reservations about the tariff measure. His administration wants the climate bill to become law by the end of the year, when negotiations for a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases are held in Copenhagen.
On the sidelines of next week’s Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Italy, both the United States and China will attend the Major Economies Forum on Climate and Energy. That meeting of 16 nations and the European Union — which together produce 80% of the world’s greenhouse gases – likely will be devoted to the world economic crisis.
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