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Import tariffs: an alternative to a European energy embargo against Russia

Tariffs on Russian energy imports could provide the EU with a lever to reduce Russia’s financial gains from its oil and gas exports and allow it to flexibly react to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, a team of economists from the European think tank Bruegel, Harvard, and the University of Cologne propose in a letter to Science and in a working paper. Among the authors is the University of Cologne’s energy and market design expert Axel Ockenfels. In order to strengthen its position, the authors argue, the EU should furthermore make its energy demand more elastic in the short term by providing greater incentives for other energy sources to replace oil and gas, and through efforts to generally reduce demand. They are confident, however, that a bold European energy strategy could feasibly deprive Russia of its financial basis for the war against Ukraine. Further information.

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