Is Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who once withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement aimed at limiting global warming, unintentionally doing the planet a favor? Of course, the question is provocative. But with the resurgence of tariffs, it is being raised repeatedly, particularly among Le Monde readers. Are trade barriers, which slow down globalization, actually good news for the environment?
"That is a very good question," said Lionel Fontagné, professor at the Paris School of Economics, director of the Institute for Macroeconomic and International Policies, and a specialist in trade issues. "For a quarter of a century, we have witnessed a very rapid increase in trade and, at the same time, a sharp rise in CO2 in the atmosphere, and it is natural to want to make the connection." But is it relevant?
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