{"id":66428,"date":"2025-03-31T10:32:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T17:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energi.media\/?p=66428"},"modified":"2025-03-31T10:32:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T17:32:29","slug":"opinion-low-carbon-trade-is-canadas-trump-card-over-trump-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energi.media\/opinion\/opinion-low-carbon-trade-is-canadas-trump-card-over-trump-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Low-carbon trade is Canada\u2019s trump card over Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Energy Mix<\/a> on March 30, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Mitchell Beer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With Donald Trump\u2019s preposterously-named \u201cLiberation Day<\/a>\u201d tariffs set to take effect this Wednesday, April 2\u2014and Politico\u00a0reporting<\/a>\u00a0that no one in the White House has a clue what form the final announcement will take\u2014we\u2019re updating and republishing a February 23 post on the new international trading system that countries outside the U.S. are scrambling to build.<\/em><\/p>\n

If that system is guided by a tough carbon standard that drives down emissions while speeding up the shift to a green economy, it could be a powerful win for all the countries that take part. And Canada, at least for the moment, is emerging as one of the leaders of the pack.<\/em><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s just a possible pathway, not a prediction. But if you take some of the elements of our current geopolitical moment and stack the building blocks just right, you can imagine Donald Trump\u2019s ham-fisted tariffs shocking Canada into the diversified trading relationships it needs\u2014with emission reductions receiving top billing.<\/p>\n

If it works, it will be because a tough, meaningful standard for low-carbon exports becomes the trump card (lower-case \u2018t\u2019, please) in the economic warfare the rogue regime in Washington, DC has brought to our doorstep.<\/p>\n

The win would require some big choices\u2014bolstering a recently mostly performative set of national climate policies with serious, consistent curbs on emissions, and quickly relinquishing our status as one of the world\u2019s biggest fossil fuel exporters\u2014all of that as cleaner, greener economic relationships flourish. But that\u2019s no more and no less than\u00a0the pivot<\/a>\u00a0that many of us have been working for for years and decades, supported by clean energy and industrial alternatives that are practical, affordable, and ready to scale up.<\/p>\n

Most important, it responds to the continuous flow of alarming news of record\u00a0temperature rise<\/a>,\u00a0ocean warming<\/a>, and\u00a0ice loss<\/a>,\u00a0devastating<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0deadly<\/a>\u00a0wildfires, crippling\u00a0drought<\/a>,\u00a0rising climate pollution<\/a>, and \u201cplanetary solvency<\/a>\u201d risks, all evidence of a global climate emergency running out of control.<\/p>\n

But how sweet would it be if we could look back in five, 10, or 15 years and realize that the\u00a0unremitting<\/a>,\u00a0deliberately-choreographed<\/a>\u00a0avalanche of\u00a0horrors<\/a>\u00a0that we\u2019ve all witnessed over the past two months became the final catalyst for countries to get their act together on an even bigger crisis?<\/p>\n

Read Where the Trade Winds Are Blowing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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