If a developing country handled all environmental regulations, etc. there would -still- be a profit to be had, unless shipping winds up negating that profit. Logically speaking a less developed country will still have lower overall wages.
While this means the countries may develop slower, they will likely/hopefully wind up with less concentrated wealth (hiring more workers instead of a few people pocketing all the profits.)
I would hope that such taxes would be used towards environmental or humanitarian efforts, to be a proper 'offset' tax.
Doing so will likely result in some short term shocks, but a more sustainable society overall. My hope is that when prices would go up in such a scenario, consumers would again care about how long something lasts in big enough numbers that we have a less disposable society.
Which “developing” countries are running world class fabs these days? Taiwan and South Korea are definitely first-world countries, as much so as the US.
