That's the scenario Brad Plumer's heard sketched out as a last resort by various members of the administration and the environmental advocacy community. "The basic premise would be that if the United States passes a cap-and-trade bill on carbon, but other countries like China don't do anything about their emissions, then we could slap a border tax on select imports from those countries so as not to disadvantage our own domestic manufacturers." China's lead climate negotiator, however, isn't a fan of that idea. Which is rather as you'd expect. But what's apparent in his comments is that America can't begin theorizing about international cooperation until it commits to domestic action. So long as China and others can argue that we, the largest and most technologically advanced of the world's carbon emitters, are not doing our part, they don't have to do their part.
