It would be hard to come up with a dumber tariff plan than President Donald Trump, but Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney is giving it his best shot.

Carney released his carbon tax plan recently and it contained a tariff, a carbon tariff.

Carney said he would “change” the carbon tax. But he would replace it with a hidden industrial carbon tax. And, on top of it all, he would impose carbon tariffs on imports. In former central banker speak, this tariff is called a “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.”

Carney plans to impose the tariff on imports from other countries if he thinks they aren’t doing enough to reduce emissions. That tariff would make the products more expensive to import into Canada and that means Canadians would pay more.

It’s a carbon tax applied at the border instead of at the gas pump or on your home heating bill. Advocates say that carbon tariffs like this are used to “punish countries that are free-riding on the need to fight climate change.” This means that countries should use economic force to make other countries impose their own carbon taxes and other environmental regulations.

Carney’s carbon tax tariff is unlikely to do anything but cost Canadians more money.

About 70 per cent of countries don’t have a national carbon tax. That includes the United States. The U.S. isn’t likely to implement its own carbon tax. Trump’s 2024 platform mentioned carbon taxes exactly zero times. Former president Joe Biden had four years to implement a carbon tax and didn’t.

Here’s a key question for Carney: How would Trump respond to carbon tariffs on American goods?

For those tempted to shake their fists at environmentally uncouth Americans, it’s worth considering this inconvenient fact buried in the government of Canada’s own data. The U.S. reduced emissions by more than 14 per cent between 2005 and 2021. Meanwhile, Canada reduced its emissions by 1.4 per cent.

Any American president would hit back if Carney imposed a carbon tariff.

Canada makes up about 1.4 per cent of global emissions and about 1.3 per cent of the world’s economy. Under a carbon tax tariff, the 70 per cent of countries that don’t have a national carbon tax can sell their products somewhere else, leaving Canadians with fewer options and paying more for what little they can get.

If Carney wins the Liberal leadership and becomes prime minister, his carbon tariff won’t pressure other countries to do anything. All it will do is cost Canadians.

These carbon tariffs are supposed to prevent what is called “carbon leakage.” Carbon leakage happens when a country imposes environmental regulations and carbon taxes, but it does little to reduce global emissions because businesses leave that country and set up shop somewhere else.

But that still means Canadians are paying the cost of the tariff. For example, if it’s too expensive to set up a fertilizer plant in Canada because of Carney’s hidden industrial carbon tax, Canadian farmers who still need fertilizer will be stuck paying the carbon tariff when they import it.

If a manufacturer needs a component from the U.S., Carney’s tariff will make that more expensive and that means their costs will go up.

The most glaring example of this is in vehicle manufacturing. Components can cross the Canada-U.S. border multiple times before a vehicle’s final assembly. Carney’s carbon tariff could hit those parts every single time.

That’s another way that this tariff will increase costs to taxpayers. How many new bureaucrats does Carney plan to hire to calculate how high of a tariff these businesses need to pay?

Carney’s carbon tariff is just another carbon tax. Canadians can’t afford any carbon taxes; the last thing we need is another one.