US Democrats seek to tackle climate change with import tax

Democrats have agreed to include a tax on imports from nations the US says do not have strong policies aimed at combating climate change in a wide-ranging spending package.

They are seeking to draw up a sweeping $3.5 trillion budget plan stocked with other provisions which aim to ratchet down fossil fuel pollution in the United States.

Policymakers from across the globe are increasingly getting interested in carbon border taxes, with the European Union (EU) proposing a similar idea this week.

However, Democratic lawmakers still need to determine how exactly they want to formulate an import tax proposal, and that they have a long way to go before such a policy can be implemented in the country.

They plan to pass their substantial spending bill later this year without any Republican votes.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called the package “wildly out of proportion to what the country needs now.”

The budget deal would make it possible for a number of climate-related provisions to be included in a spending bill, including the import tax, a clean energy standard and clean energy tax incentives.

The goal is to meet the objective set by Democratic President Joe Biden who has promised to cut the US’ greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

In theory, a carbon border tax would mean that companies that want to sell steel, iron and other goods to the United States must pay a price for every ton of carbon dioxide emitted during their producing processes.