Tariffs as Environmental Protection
Evidence from the Global South after the China Garbage Shock
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6228022 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel L Wellhausen (0000-0002-7430-9997, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1234 • E-ISSN: 1469-2112 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s000712342510104x |
| OpenAlex | W7105659280 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
In the global waste trade, importers buy containers of waste and scrap to meet demand for raw materials, especially in the Global South. But post-processing leftovers generate localized negative externalities. I use the waste trade as a setting to establish that low-capacity states can and do use tariffs as a tool in their environmental policy repertoire. Product-level tariffs can serve as Pigouvian ’sin’ taxes that incentivize private market actors to limit transactions and/or increase state revenue, both channels that can result in improved environmental outcomes. For evidence, I leverage the ‘China garbage shock’: in 2017 China banned imports of twenty-six waste products (HS six-digit), which disrupted economic–environmental trade-offs in other, newly competitive markets awash in diverted imports. Using novel data on 179 traded waste products and product-level tariffs (1996–2020), I demonstrate that those that received the shock raised tariffs in ways consistent with environmental protection
China · Free trade · Garbage · Global South · Leverage (statistics · Raw material · Scrap · Shock (circulatory · Tariff · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Municipal Solid Waste Management · Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
What a Waste 2.0
The Chinese import ban and its impact on global plastic waste trade
Globalization and the Race to the Bottom in Developing Countries
Inference with Difference-in-Differences and Other Panel Data
The China Shock
The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve
Impacts of tariff escalation on the environment
Narrowing the Channel
Political Costs of Trade War Tariffs
The Politics of Wine
Tariff Evasion and Trade Policies
The Cost of Wiggle-Room
The Domestic Impact of International Standards
Tariffs As Electoral Weapons
Global Private Regimes, Domestic Public Law
Three Faces of Climate Justice
Measuring Trade Profile with Granular Product‐Level Data
From Waste to Resource
Trade for the Environment
Political Cleavages within Industry
Toxic waste dumping in the Global South as a form of environmental racism
| Highly cited | No |
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