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To B(TA) or not to B(TA)? On the Legality and Desirability of Border Tax Adjustments from a Trade Perspective

Author

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  • Henrik HORN

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

  • Petros C. MAVROIDIS

    (Columbia Law School)

Abstract

This paper asks two questions concerning Border Tax Adjustments for climate purposes, when viewed from a trade perspective: First, under what conditions are BTAs possible in the WTO-world? To address this issue, the paper provides a detailed discussion of the relevant law and case law. We also apply our main conclusions on what we consider to be paradigmatic cases of measures to address climate change where trade concerns are raised. We conclude that the WTO regime is no major obstacle to those aspiring to use BTAs, although the allocation of the burden of proof could be an issue. The second issue addressed is whether the economic literature on the desirability of BTAs adequately reflects concerns that have been raised in the trade policy community. Here we conclude that it has hardly addressed these concerns at all. We also point to some aspects of BTAs that would be important to take into account in a more complete analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Henrik HORN & Petros C. MAVROIDIS, 2011. "To B(TA) or not to B(TA)? On the Legality and Desirability of Border Tax Adjustments from a Trade Perspective," Working Papers P21, FERDI.
    • Handle: RePEc:fdi:wpaper:792
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaditya Mattoo & Arvind Subramanian & Dominique van der Mensbrugghe & Jianwu He, 2009. "Reconciling Climate Change and Trade Policy," Working Papers 189, Center for Global Development.
    2. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2008. "The Permissible Reach of National Environmental Policies," Working Paper Series 739, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 20 Jun 2008.
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    7. Harry G. Johnson & Mel Krauss, 1970. "Border Taxes, Border Tax Adjustments, Comparative Advantage, and the Balance of Payments," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 3(4), pages 595-602, November.
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    9. Patrick Messerlin, 2010. "Climate change and trade policy: From mutual destruction to mutual support," Working Papers hal-00972994, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicole A. MATHYS & Jaime DE MELO, 2012. "Reconciling Trade and Climate Policies," Working Papers P37, FERDI.
    2. Fischer, Carolyn & Greaker, Mads & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2017. "Robust technology policy against emission leakage: The case of upstream subsidies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 44-61.
    3. Christoph Böhringer & Knut Einar Rosendahl & Halvor Storrøsten, 2021. "Smart hedging against carbon leakage [An overview of the GTAP 9 data base]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 36(107), pages 439-484.
    4. Böhringer, Christoph & Rosendahl, Knut Einar & Storrøsten, Halvor Briseid, 2017. "Robust policies to mitigate carbon leakage," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 35-46.
    5. Kevin R. Kaushal & Knut Einar Rosendahl, 2020. "Taxing Consumption to Mitigate Carbon Leakage," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(1), pages 151-181, January.
    6. Böhringer, Christoph & Bye, Brita & Fæhn, Taran & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2017. "Targeted carbon tariffs: Export response, leakage and welfare," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 51-73.
    7. Jakob, Michael, 2021. "Climate policy and international trade – A critical appraisal of the literature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    8. Edward J. Balistreri & Daniel T. Kaffine & Hidemichi Yonezawa, 2019. "Optimal Environmental Border Adjustments Under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1037-1075, November.
    9. John Whalley, 2011. "What Role for Trade in a Post‐2012 Global Climate Policy Regime," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(11), pages 1844-1862, November.
    10. Christoph Böhringer & Knut Einar Rosendahl & Halvor Briseid Storrøsten, 2015. "Mitigating carbon leakage: Combining output-based rebating with a consumption tax," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 54 / 2015, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies.
    11. Byeongho Lim & Kyoungseo Hong & Jooyoung Yoon & Jeong-In Chang & Inkyo Cheong, 2021. "Pitfalls of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Patrick MESSERLIN, 2011. "Climate, trade and water: A “grand coalition”?," Working Papers P23, FERDI.
    13. Melanie Hecht & Wolfgang Peters, 2019. "Border Adjustments Supplementing Nationally Determined Carbon Pricing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 93-109, May.
    14. Max Åhman & Lars J. Nilsson & Bengt Johansson, 2017. "Global climate policy and deep decarbonization of energy-intensive industries," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 634-649, July.
    15. Aaditya Mattoo & Arvind Subramanian, 2013. "Four Changes to Trade Rules to Facilitate Climate Change Action," Policy Briefs PB13-10, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    16. Mattoo, Aaditya & Subramanian, Arvind, 2013. "A"greenprint"for international cooperation on climate change," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6440, The World Bank.
    17. Kaushal, Kevin Raj, 2018. "Emission price, output-based allocation and consumption tax: Optimal climate policy in the presence of another country’s climate policy," Working Paper Series 8-2018, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.
    18. Jaime de Melo & Nicole A. Mathys, 2012. "Concilier les politiques commerciales et les politiques climatiques," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 20(2), pages 57-81.
    19. Madison Condon & Ada Ignaciuk, 2013. "Border Carbon Adjustment and International Trade: A Literature Review," OECD Trade and Environment Working Papers 2013/6, OECD Publishing.
    20. Petros C. Mavroidis & Damien Neven, 2018. "Things have changed (or Have they?) Tariff protection and environmental concerns in the WTO," IHEID Working Papers 04-2018, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    21. Petros C. Mavroidis & Damien J. Neveny, 2018. "Things have changed (or Have they ?) Tariff protection and environmental concerns in the WTO," RSCAS Working Papers 2018/20, European University Institute.
    22. Melanie Hecht & Wolfgang Peters, 2019. "Border Adjustments Supplementing A Cap And Trade System To Combat Climate Change," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(04), pages 1-21, November.
    23. Patrick MESSERLIN, 2011. "Climate, trade and water: A “grand coalition”?," Working Papers P23, FERDI.
    24. Susanne Droege & Carolyn Fischer, 2020. "Pricing Carbon at the Border: Key Questions for the EU," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 18(01), pages 30-34, April.
    25. Fischer, Carolyn & Fox, Alan K., 2012. "Comparing policies to combat emissions leakage: Border carbon adjustments versus rebates," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 199-216.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • F42 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Policy Coordination and Transmission
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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