WSJ: US Seeks to Lower Green Trade Barriers

January 30, 2008

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that diplomats representing several of the world's biggest economies will gather in Hawaii for discussions regarding a new international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

According to the story, “The meeting isn't expected to produce any major breakthrough.”

However, the meeting is set against a backdrop where the U.S. and other industrialized nations are trying to convince up and comers, such as China and India to lower trade barriers and eliminate tarrifs.

According to the Journal:

Deploying existing clean-energy technologies more broadly throughout the developing world is widely seen as important to slowing the growth in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. But getting developing countries to drop the tariffs won't be easy. China and India have their own fast-growing companies selling clean technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels around the world. Those companies often want to continue to be protected by tariffs.

President Bush included an item in his State of the Union speech Monday regarding U.S. commitment to creating a $2 billion global "clean technology" fund to deploy new green technology to countries such as China and India.

Bush’s proposal followed Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's recent pledge to spend $10 billion over the next five years to help developing countries curb their emissions.

For more , check out the Wall Street Journal article in its entirety.