Washington, D.C. — In response to today’s World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against U.S. clean energy measures within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, issued the following statement:
“The WTO’s ruling against the United States’ most significant climate law to date show’s just how broken and out-of-touch global trade rules are in the face of the growing climate crisis.
“Before the Inflation Reduction Act was even signed into law, the Trade Justice Education Fund led over 150 environmental organizations in calling for a ‘Climate Peace Clause’ moratorium on the use of outdated trade rules to attack countries’ clean energy transition initiatives.
“In the years that followed, we partnered with leading labor, environmental, faith and consumer groups in specifically opposing the trade attack leveled against the IRA’s incentives for electric vehicles and renewable energy production.
“Then and now, we urge the U.S. government to oppose allowing corporate-driven trade rules from standing in the way of the clean energy transition and much-needed sustainable jobs programs. The IRA should be fully implemented as intended, without the technical changes the WTO seeks to impose — and, in fact, must be rapidly expanded upon.”
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