![]() ![]() The Supreme Court recently considered two writ petitions filed by few partiesc including Professor G. It is still to be seen whether Ranil will opt to follow the bad precedents set by both Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1975 and JR Jayewardene in 1982 and once again deny the people’s democratic right to elect their representatives enshrined in the Constitution, despite the Supreme Court verdict. Opposition circles have accused that there have been pressure from those top in the government to prevent the elections from being held, while the government attributes this to a ‘shortage of funds’ for the elections due to the country’s economic situation. The government printer is in the news these days, with the National Election Commission (EC) announcing that the Government Printer has stated that if funds are not provided, ballot papers will not be printed, posing a fresh hurdle to the upcoming Local Government Elections scheduled to be held on the 9th of March. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”― Abraham Lincoln Why risk giving the protectionists another opening? From the given options choose the correct synonym for the word 'undermining' in context of the given passage.“ Elections belong to the people. Donald Trump’s presidency has already rattled free-traders’ nerves. Worse still, lobby groups could easily pervert the charges into a form of quiet protectionism. Rather than prod countries to tighten their own regulations, new carbon tariffs could make that battle more vicious. The EU and America are already in a politically driven tit-for-tat over steel duties with China they have risen in some cases to over 500%. But the reason why trade economists are so squeamish about carbon tariffs is the fear that they could cause a tariff war. Disputes over this could produce reams of litigation at the WTO between various systems. This is not easy even for simple sheets of steel for items made of several bits of metal from different sources, it is hellishly complex. One big problem is the difficulty of calculating the embodied carbon in imports. But many think it would be much more difficult in practice. It would also give an incentive to countries without controls on emissions to introduce their own carbon taxes, in order to grab a share of the revenues.Įconomists say the idea works in theory. ![]() Taxing imports on their embodied carbon-where this has not already happened in their country of origin-would level the playing field between different systems, they say. It also encourages firms to move production outside the bloc rather than prompt them to use cleaner methods. This harms the cost competitiveness of European producers. Under the EU’s reforms, steelmakers in Europe would pay up to €30 ($32) to emit a tonne of carbon, but foreign producers selling in the EU would not have to pay a cent. Proponents of such policies say that they remove the distortions caused by carbon taxes. The income from the levy would then be distributed to American households on a quarterly basis to make up for higher consumer prices. Their plan includes a carbon tax on imports of up to $40 for each tonne produced by their manufacture, which would increase over time. ![]() This month a group of Republicans-including two former treasury secretaries, James Baker and George Shultz-proposed a similar levy on imports at the border, as well as for domestic production. Similar proposals in America are also being mooted. This week Lakshmi Mittal, the CEO of Arcelor Mittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, offered his support for the tax. Steel firms, also heavy users of carbon, say their exclusion from this scheme is unfair. The measures include the EU’s first border tax on carbon, levied on cement imports. The reforms the European Parliament passed this week are an attempt to increase the price of carbon by cutting the emissions allowances granted to firms. How do border taxes on carbon emissions work? And are they a good idea? Some steel firms have responded by calling for carbon tariffs to prevent the measures undermining their international competitiveness. The industry is a heavy user of carbon responsible for 5% of global emissions. New measures designed to raise the price of carbon in the EU to help the bloc meet its climate-change targets, voted on by the European Parliament on February 15th, threaten to increase the pressure. Profits at steel firms around the world have fallen into a sea of red ink, shuttering plants and laying off workers. Prices for the metal have halved due to flatlining demand and rising exports from China, which now smelts 50% of the global output. Since 2011, the world’s steelmakers have been feeling the heat. Some words may be highlighted for your attention. Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage.
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