Angered by what it sees as America’s climate inaction and obstructionism, the Social Democratic Party in Germany has called for sanctions on imports of energy-intensive products from the U.S. “The U.S. is a major part of the problem. Levying special taxes or sanctions on energy-intensive U.S. products, such as steel and aluminum, which are exported to Europe, could be the first step,” said Ulrich Kelber, a party leader. “We cannot let the U.S. continue to block multilateral agreements, as it tried with Kyoto, or weaken them, as it did in Bali.” The Social Democrats have attempted similar moves before without success. While the Green Party and others also support the sanctions, it’s unclear what chances the proposal has of becoming official German policy or getting passed by the European Parliament.
