Military action to influence oil-producing nations ineffective, expert says

Singer argues that to reduce the overall oil consumption rate in the U.S., the most effective of the piecemeal approaches would be “the broadest possible taxes on petroleum end products, not just gasoline.”

“But imposing such taxes is also the most politically unpalatable approach, given that they directly burden moderate income Americans with higher fuel and electricity bills in the short run.”

Another problem with piecemeal approaches, he said, is that they don’t promote international cooperation among oil importing countries.

“Europe has widespread policies aimed in part at reducing petroleum consumption, but these have not provided the foundation for an effective global cooperative mechanism for dealing with OPEC.”

Singer claims that while piecemeal attempts to reduce oil imports have been promoted as a way of increasing national security, they have been “manifestly ineffective.”

“Universally taxing foreign oil producers through tariffs at the front end of the trade and commodity process is a more effective approach to dealing with what really has been just an inconvenience, not a serious national security problem.

“This approach would send the needed market price signals universally, for manufacturers as well as individual consumers across the globe. When properly framed, this approach should also be more broadly politically palatable than directly taxing U.S. consumers’ use of petroleum end products at an individual level, because this approach directly confronts the petroleum market manipulations of the OPEC cartel, something that U.S. policy has so far failed to do.”

Singer suggests two major policy “opportunities” that have “profound implications for all developed and rapidly developing countries”:

• U.S. defense and national security strategy should be reshaped so as to uniformly avoid unilateral military interventions in international or internal conflicts “solely or primarily for the purpose of influencing who has control over energy resources.”
  
  

• Major importers of petroleum and petroleum products should impose import tariffs that “continue to rise until a mutually acceptable agreement on stabilizing petroleum prices is reached with OPEC.” This agreement with OPEC should involve not only the United States, but also “a broad coalition of major energy users throughout the globe, ensuring truly consistent, systemic change in global financial and trade practices.”
  
  

Singer said Congress should immediately pass a punitive tariff on crude and refined petroleum from members in good standing in OPEC, and any other exporting countries that “conspire to maintain prices several times higher than the cost of exploration and production.”