Australia's Free Trade Agreements May Be Jeopardized By Climate Change Agenda: A

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) warned on Tuesday that governments could use emissions trading schemes (ETS) as a cover for protectionism.

This would have dire consequences for Australia as free trade agreements could be jeopardized by the global climate change agenda, ACCI said.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd raised initial concerns for business that they could expect tariffs on imports if Australia did not legislate an emissions trading scheme.

"We'd obviously be concerned about that ... if they used the ETS as a backdoor method of protection," ACCI acting chief executive Greg Evans told reporters in Canberra. "That's something that would concern Australia."

One way to defy protectionist measures was to ensure all countries adopted similar climate change policies, including the implementation of import tariffs.

"It would be a cruel irony for Australia, which is basically a free-trading country, for punitive tariffs to be imposed, particularly by economic blocs such as the European Union who have done what they can over the last 50 years to keep our products from their markets," Evans said.