01/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson once again rejected the idea so dear to the heart of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of a carbon tax at the border on imports from countries with less stringent standards in tackling climate change. Apart from the difficulty of implementing this tax and its compatibility with the WTO rules, Mandelson feels it would be counter-productive. “It's the Europeans who would end up paying this import tax. Furthermore, this kind of proposal, opposing North and South, does not make for the international dialogue that we so badly need,” he argued. It two key speeches when he was European Trade Commissioner, in December 2006 and then again in September 2008, Mandelson argued against the carbon tax, calling, on the contrary, for liberalisation of trade in green goods and services. (E.H./transl.rt)