SANTIAGO, CHILE — The United States government is taking a strong public position on climate change.

By now everybody’s heard it: The White House has recognized that climate change is already being felt in many corners of the US, and the worst is yet to come. One of Barack Obama’s major plans for cutting America’s greenhouse gas emissions is to wean the country off oil. The president even flew to California to get people revved up about renewable energy.

But the US had a very different message down in Chile, where a diplomat’s comments on a local carbon tax created a huge controversy – one largely ignored by the superpower way up north.

The US ambassador in Santiago, Michael Hammer, publicly commented in a meeting with Chilean lawmakers and business owners earlier this month on a planned fiscal overhaul that includes a carbon tax: ‘In order to continue contributing to the economy and society, US companies need, in fact all companies need, political and economic stability, in addition to clear rules.”

Some brushed it off. But others called it an attempt at meddling in Chilean politics, which remains a sore spot here even two decades after Chile transitioned from the Pinochet dictatorship the CIA […]