Suppose we decided that we wanted to discourage the consumption of alcohol so that we taxed all alcohol products manufactured in the United States. Then, realizing that people will simply switch to buying untaxed alcohol produced overseas, we start taxing alcohol that is imported from countries that don't put their own tax on the manufacture of alcohol products. Are we putting sanctions on countries that don't tax their own production of alcohol? According to the NYT we are. The NYT told readers that a House bill to restrict greenhouse gas emissions "would impose sanctions on countries that did not accept binding emissions cuts." That is a very peculiar way to describe the nature of the carbon import taxes in this bill.
--Dean Baker