U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements are Wrong Models for the Environment

A statement from the Center for International Environmental Law and other representatives urging the U.S. Congress to strengthen environmental safeguards in the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and to reject them as models for future trade initiatives.

• The U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore FTAs fail to meet the 'no greater rights' standard mandated by the Trade Act of 2002, which requires that foreign investors not receive more substantive rights than U.S. investors under U.S. law. Specifically, the agreements do not apply U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding public nuisance as a non-expropriation, fail to distinguish between land and personal property, and use vague standards like 'character of government action' that leave interpretation to international tribunals.
• The investment rules in the Chile and Singapore FTAs may undermine environmental laws by allowing foreign investors to challenge government decisions on natural resource agreements, such as Federal oil and gas leases. The authors argue for a general environmental exception similar to the WTO General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to protect non-discriminatory environmental policies.
• The environmental provisions in the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore FTAs are described as ambiguous and inferior to previous agreements. They lack a 'citizen submission process' for alleging failures to enforce environmental laws (which exists in NAFTA) and do not place environmental requirements on the same level as commercial issues (as seen in the U.S.-Jordan FTA).
• The agreements fail to establish an independent environmental cooperation institution or provide specific financial and resource commitments to implement environmental goals. Additionally, the definition of 'environmental laws' in the Chile FTA is considered ambiguous, potentially excluding natural resource issues which account for more than 40% of Chile's exports.

APA

-1, Porter, S., Waskow, D., Caldwell, J., Seligman, D., Burgiel, S., Frymoyer, B., & Casey-Lefkowitz, S. (2003). U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements are Wrong Models for the Environment. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/news/u-s-chile-and-u-s-singapore-free-trade-agreements-are-wrong-models-for-the-environment/

Chicago

-1, Stephen Porter, David Waskow, Jake Caldwell, Dan Seligman, Stas Burgiel, Bill Frymoyer, and Susan Casey-Lefkowitz. U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements are Wrong Models for the Environment. Center for International Environmental Law, 2003. https://www.ciel.org/news/u-s-chile-and-u-s-singapore-free-trade-agreements-are-wrong-models-for-the-environment/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=-1 |last2=Porter |first2=Stephen |last3=Waskow |first3=David |last4=Caldwell |first4=Jake |last5=Seligman |first5=Dan |last6=Burgiel |first6=Stas |last7=Frymoyer |first7=Bill |last8=Casey-Lefkowitz |first8=Susan |title=U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements are Wrong Models for the Environment |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=1 July 2003 |url=https://www.ciel.org/news/u-s-chile-and-u-s-singapore-free-trade-agreements-are-wrong-models-for-the-environment/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{12003uschile, author = {-1 and Porter, Stephen and Waskow, David and Caldwell, Jake and Seligman, Dan and Burgiel, Stas and Frymoyer, Bill and Casey-Lefkowitz, Susan}, title = {{U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements are Wrong Models for the Environment}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2003}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ciel.org/news/u-s-chile-and-u-s-singapore-free-trade-agreements-are-wrong-models-for-the-environment/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }