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Doesn’t this only work when it’s done on a global scale? Otherwise I feel like it would just crater non-Chinese businesses. You’re already fighting an uphill b
by sushid 6y ago
Doesn’t this only work when it’s done on a global scale?
Otherwise I feel like it would just crater non-Chinese businesses. You’re already fighting an uphill battle when it comes to labor costs. How can your steel mill stay competitive when one country taxes negative externalities while another doesn’t?
- leoedin 6y agoYou're probably right. We already don't recognise the other environmental negative externalities of imports. It would probably require some level of tariffs. Something we've seen with solar power recently is that its become cost competitive on its own, without subsidies, in certain situations. Effectively the marginal cost of electricity from solar is almost zero, so it can outcompete any fossil fuel which has per-joule extraction costs. If we could give our green technology industry enough of a cash injection now, it's feasible that we could completely remove that subsidy later when green technologies (particularly energy storage ones) are mature enough.