EU inviting disaster by imposing carbon tax on steel: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday warned the European Union that by imposing a carbon tax on its steel products the bloc was inviting a disaster as it would add to the cost burden create nontariff barriers making its businesses uncompetitive according to news agency PTIThe minister while participating in the Berlin Global Dialogue further said the EU is shooting themselves in the foot by implementing more regulations imposing restrictions on themselves and closing their borders He pointed out that this was something which actually helped them become a developed set of nationsYou put a CBAM Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on yourself You put a 50 per cent import duty to bring steel into your country Youre inviting disaster Your cost of living will go up he saidHe further stated that through this series of regulations the EU is effectively imposing artificial constraints on itself by creating barriers within Europe and introducing at times ldquoabsolutely ridiculousrdquo standards or levels of protection to safeguard certain sectors such as steel ultimately harming its own economyReciprocal regulations could hurt EUNow imagine going forward every infrastructure whether its a port or an airport or your autobahns in Germany or your expressways your utilities your water pipelines you name the infrastructure with costlier steel costlier aluminium costlier cement with all the overlay of CBAM and deforestation rules he said pointing out that the bloc has 7577 regulationsWeve lost count You keep adding to your regulations add to the burden of your industry make yourself uncompetitive And of course in some sense itll also create nontariff barriers for others to trade with you Goyal saidWith the trading world getting reciprocal the minister said other countries might implement regulations that deter EU nations from trading with themAnd I dont say that Much bigger leaders are saying that And in this reciprocal world you bring in a regulation and stop some other country from working with you Theyll bring in two regulations which will hurt your businesses he saidEU firms could lose competitive edgeGoyal said that trade might become difficult for European nations as it will reduce their competitive edge in the global market push the cost of living expenses and fuel higher inflationYou will not be able to compete in global markets Your auto industry is suffering that already I think auto sales are down from Germany by 15 or 20 per cent in the last decade or so the minister said adding How will you be competitive in the future You will ultimately outprice your industryThe Union Minister said that India is working on increasing competitiveness and trying to forge a winwin partnership with everybodyWeve got fair equitable and balanced agreements with every one of the partners with whom we are working At least in the last four or five years post2014 particularly were forging friendships basis competitiveness We are building complementary strengths he said adding that India would trade with countries such as Singapore where there is no CBAM and deforestationCBAM and EUDR regulationsUnder the CBAM Indias steel aluminium and cement shipments to the EU could face tariffs of 2035 per cent and the country has raised concerns on multiple occasions over these regulationsThe European Unions antideforestation regulation EUDR is a form of a nontariff barrier that imposes strict regulatory requirements on sectors such as rubber producers and exporters targeting European marketsHighlights Indias low carbon emissionsGoyal highlighted that India contributes around 335 per cent of global carbon emissions despite accounting for 17 per cent of the worlds population He stated that the EUs contribution to carbon emissions is humongous and it is about 20 per centWe are greening our steel he said He criticised developed nations for failing to meet their climate finance and technology transfer promises to the developing and less developed countries according to PTIHe added that the CBAM does not recognise the principle of common but differentiated responsibilitiesWith inputs from PTI