Carbon Import Fees and the WTO

The speed of climate and trade policy development is intensifying as carbon import fees gain supporters. Many have asked if these new policies would stand up if challenged at the World Trade Organization (WTO). To date, those questions have been untested and unanswered. In this new first-of-its-kind legal analysis, Matt Porterfield examines five categories of carbon import fee policies compared against four possible WTO defenses, finding at least one viable path forward for each of the policy design options.