Punishing the polluters with an international carbon tax

French prime minister Dominique de Villepin's proposal to the European Union to impose a carbon tax on industrial products imported from countries non-compliant with the second stage of the Kyoto Protocol has considerable merit. Indeed it deserves consideration as an international measure. After all, the World Trade Organization has the authority to impose sanctions on countries that violate international trade law, and dealing with global warming is vastly more important than dealing with unfair trading.

Not surprisingly, the rules of the World Trade Organization may forbid such a tax. The WTO, after all, puts trade uber alles. A French spokesman expresses confidence that EU lawyers could circumvent such opposition. Let's hope he is right. If he isn't, if the WTO places trade even above the health of the planet, then we have yet another reason to question its rules if not the legitimacy of the organization itself.