Europe is willing to discuss its new carbon emissions tax for airlines with disgruntled governments, but has no plans to scrap the levy, a top EU official said yesterday.
“We’re ready to negotiate within our framework,” Siim Kallas, European Commission vice president and transport commissioner, said at an aviation conference in Singapore. “We aren’t trying to dominate the world.”
The EU imposed the tax, known as the emissions trading scheme, on Jan. 1 in a bid to curb emissions of climate-changing gases, but money will not be collected until next year. Under the system, airlines flying to or from Europe must obtain certificates for carbon dioxide emissions. They will get free credits to cover most flights this year, but must buy or trade for credits to cover the rest.
Photo: EPA
Airlines and governments have complained the tax is too costly and was implemented unilaterally by Europe. Industry leaders are warning the disagreement could spark a trade war between Europe and the rest of the world.
“I’m very worried,” said Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus, the world’s largest commercial airplane maker. “What started out as a solution for the environment has become a source of potential trade conflict.”
Last week, China barred its carriers from paying the charges or other fees without government permission, and Russia, India and the US have also voiced opposition.
Asian carriers say the carbon tax unfairly penalizes them because the charge is based on the distance of the flight.
Malaysian long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X said last month it plans to eliminate flights to Europe, in part because the carbon tax increased costs and made flights less profitable.
“The longer you fly direct, the more you’re penalized,” AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said. “There was hope that the EU would back down, but they didn’t. Now they have to deal with China, good luck with that.”
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 240 airlines, is urging the EU to negotiate new carbon emissions guidelines through the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“Non-European governments see this extraterritorial tax collection as an attack on their sovereignty,” IATA CEO Tony Tyler said yesterday. “Aviation can ill afford to be caught in an escalating political or trade conflict.”
Tyler, who previously was CEO of Cathay Pacific Airways, reiterated IATA’s forecast that airline profits would likely fall to US$3.5 billion this year from US$6.9 billion last year as a slowing global economy and high fuel costs pinch earnings.
Kallas said the inability for governments to forge a global deal on reducing carbon emissions prompted the EU to act.
“The EU asked for years and years that there be a global solution on climate change,” Kallas said. “We’re protecting our citizens.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
RSS