Ford Chief Warns Against Climate Treaty

Ford Motor Co.’s top executive said Monday that the United States should avoid being bullied by other countries into signing a treaty to combat global warming, because the agreement could jeopardize economic growth and jobs.

Alex Trotman, Ford chairman and chief executive, said in a speech to the National Press Club that the economic consequences of an international treaty to combat global warming should not be ignored.

“Environmental issues do have economic consequences,” Trotman said.

“The economic consequences could be reduced by a longer timetable, technology advances and market-oriented policies. They are real and they cannot and should not be ignored.”

Governments should focus on research to gain a better understanding of the effects of human beings and of nature on global climate change, Trotman said. Governments should also should be flexible enough to change policies with new information, he added.

“There are equally important things that United States policy must avoid,” Trotman said. “No. 1 is not to be bullied by other nations into a bad treaty.”

He said that Washington “should not succumb to proposals that run a serious risk of jeopardizing our economic growth or U.S. jobs.”

Developing nations, which he said account for about 50% of so-called greenhouse emissions, should also be included in efforts to reduce emissions.

Last week President Clinton proposed a plan to fight global warming. That plan would require industrialized countries to limit emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels from 2008 through 2012 and to reduce emissions further after that.