China opposes US climate proposal to put tariffs on countries that do not cut emissions

China opposed to tariff plan in US climate bill

BEIJING — China said Thursday it opposed part of a landmark U.S. bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying tariffs should not be imposed on countries that do not cut emissions.

“We are firmly against such attempts to advance trade protectionism under the pretext of climate change,” Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told reporters in Beijing.

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed sweeping legislation Friday that calls for the nation’s first limits on pollution linked to global warming. One provision could impose tariffs on imports from countries that do not make similar cuts.

“It is not conducive to world economic recovery and it serves nobody’s interest,” He said of that proposal.

The U.S. bill must still pass the Senate, and President Barack Obama has expressed reservations about the tariff measure. The Obama administration wants the bill passed by the end of the year, when negotiations for a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases get under way in Copenhagen.

Both the U.S. and China next week will attend the Major Economies Forum on Climate and Energy in Italy, a gathering of 19 nations and the European Union that together produce 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

The forum is on the sidelines of a Group of Eight meeting. China attends the G-8 meeting as a member of the five large developing countries.

The meeting will likely be devoted to combating the world economic crisis, with attention on China as one of the key economies driving global growth during the slump.

He said China hopes the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar remains stable, but denied reports that China wants to put proposals for a new global reserve currency on the agenda. He said China would be willing to discuss the issue if it comes up.

The governor of the People’s Bank of China called in March for a new global reserve currency to replace the dominant dollar. On Friday, the central bank repeated that call in an annual report on China’s financial system but gave no new details about how or when Beijing wants the change to take place.

China’s fortunes are deeply intertwined with the dollar. Beijing is the world’s largest holder of U.S. debt, which it buys with its vast foreign currency reserves.