Scrap import tariffs on green machines, Paulson tells Beijing
Bloomberg – Updated on Apr 04, 2008
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has urged the mainland to drop tariffs on environmental equipment, saying trade barriers are hindering efforts to clean up a country that the World Bank says has 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities.
“There’s something that doesn’t seem economically sensible and morally right” about charging a tariff on clean technology, Mr Paulson said after his speech on energy and the environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.
“In China, I hear from government officials about the need for US technology to help clean up China’s rivers and control pollution from China’s many smokestacks, but that technology can be expensive, in part due to tariffs and non-tariff barriers,” he said. “We have a shared interest in resolving these dilemmas, and we can solve them.”
He said imported water membrane technology could help reduce river pollution from power plants.
The Ministry of Commerce did not immediately comment.
Mr Paulson said China and the US – the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – must work together to cut their dependence on oil and increase energy security.
The nations signed a deal in December to ensure imports and exports met environmental protection law standards, and pledged to co-operate to promote alternative fuel technologies for cars. Since then, they have been fleshing out the accord, Mr Paulson said.
He praised efforts to reduce the amount of energy used per unit of gross domestic product, but said more needed to be done. He urged Beijing to lift price controls on electricity and fuel which he said upset “the natural equilibrium of markets to match supply and demand”.
Washington this week rejected Beijing’s proposal for developed countries to contribute a percentage of their GDP to offset the impact of climate change.
Mr Paulson is meeting leaders appointed to the cabinet last month to prepare for the next round of bilateral talks on economics and trade. He and mainland leaders have also discussed topics ranging from the authorities’ response to unrest in Tibet to the strength of the yuan. Yesterday he described the rise in value of the mainland currency as “good”.
The mainland’s economy grew 11.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year and was the biggest contributor to global growth last year, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.