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March 19, 2021 [Hong Sa-hoon's Economic Show] KBS 1Radio FM 97.3MHz Mon-Fri 16:05-16:54 Guest: Ahn Yu-hwa, Professor, Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School of Chinese Studies, Dr. Hong Chun-wook (EAR Research Director) When expectations of an economic recovery grow, oil and raw material prices rise first. This is because factories are running. However, recently, while the prices of other raw materials are rising, a strange phenomenon has occurred in which only iron ore is falling. This is because China has reduced the operating rates of its steel mills to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions. As soon as President Biden was elected, he rejoined the Paris Agreement. China is, of course, one of the member countries. Some see this as an attempt to improve relations with the United States, which prioritizes environmental policies, by making efforts to reduce environmental issues, especially carbon emissions, which had been put on the back burner. The United States and the EU have already announced that they will introduce a carbon border tax. When exporting goods from countries with weak carbon emission regulations, they have to pay tariffs at the same level as the costs that US and EU companies have borne to reduce carbon emissions. Naturally, developing countries are dissatisfied. I remember interviewing a British university professor a few years ago when I was covering the carbon emission issue. Who would argue with the cause of saving the planet? But shouldn’t developed countries sell most of the carbon reduction technologies they own to developing countries for a lot of money? If we’re all going to save the planet, shouldn’t we at least share patents? It’s an understandable statement, but it was the case in the past, and even now, the world still revolves around the logic of powerful countries.